Escape from The Palace - Book I
by M.F.K.Fisher
Summary: Wang So returns after 1 year in Later Jin to Hae Su.
1. Chapter 1

Wang So woke up with a sudden start. He was confused for a moment. He wasn't sleeping under the stars in the remote mountains of Later Jin. He was home. As home as Damiwon Palace could be to anyone. A coldness settled in his chest. Was it a nightmare he had? Was the night really as cold as he imagined? He looked around his chambers. The faint outline of his bed, his armour, looked as unfamiliar to him as a foreign landscape. There was no movement, no sound, just the scraping boots of the palace guard, patrolling the ground.

Wang So reminded himself that he was no longer on the battlefield. He was in his own bed at the imperial palace, but tonight, he wished he was back with his army. Soldiers who heeded his command; soldiers, he relied on with his life. Men who fought with steel and blood were reasonable. They spoke a language he knew.

He hated this palace full of diplomats and governors and greedy servants of power, whispering plans to each other. Those were people he couldn't stand. He could barely remember what sleeping with four walls felt like. No whistle of the wind, or the piercing echo of a wolf howling at the moon. He missed the wild noises.

He still felt uneasy. His fingers reached for the crevice where the futon met the frame of the bed and touched the cool metal of his knife. It wasn't a huge knife, but it would get the job done. He grabbed a layer of light armor and got dressed quickly.

Hae-Su. Her name floated to the front of his mind like a ripple on the surface of water. Those long months away in Later Jin, he would call up her face whenever he walked away from the dinner with his men. After one too many drinks, his men would start to tell ribald stories of girls they left behind in their villages. He had heard plenty about soft thighs and full breasts and a particularly erotic, but unbelievable, tale involving four men and one very flexible gisaeng.

And it wasn't like he didn't have urges.

There were women all over the encampments, no matter where they traveled. Where there are soldiers, women followed; for companionship, for protection, or for excitement. He thought a lot of his men would be staying in Later Jin with new wives. Wang So noticed that the women of Later Jin didn't care about his mask. Some were very enticing, but he wasn't interested. His single-minded focus was on completing his task so that he could return back to Songak as soon as possible. He didn't have time to waste. Every morning, he rose with the first crack of light and rode as far as he needed to survey the land between Khitan and Goryeo. He ate once a day, ravenously, and rode again until his body was so tired that sleep would come as soon as he collapsed in his tent. His mind was elsewhere. His men complained that he didn't know how to have fun. Wang So agreed. He didn't know how to have fun. He just wanted to go back to Songak for only one person, Hae Su.

Hae-Su was beautiful, but there were plenty of beautiful woman in Goryeo that he didn't remember. Her name sounded like water to him. His chest clenched. He had been away for too long. Twelve long months away from the woman who had taken root as deep as a tree in his soul. Now that he was back, only a few miles away, but she felt as remote as when he was hundreds of miles away. He wanted to know why. Maybe that's why he sneaking out of the palace in the middle of the night, trying to figure out where things went left.

The guards were changing and at just the right moment, he glided through the courtyard of the palace. The pale slice of moonlight landed in a strange shadow and he thought he saw her slight form, still kneeling in front the palace gates. It was a trick of the light, but Wang So saw her as clearly as the day it happened one year ago.

The image of her, bloodied from churi torture, trembling in front of the palace, set in his brain like a lye burn.

He scrabbled to the top of the wall, ran along side the the northwest side of the palace wall. He stopped short when he saw a hanging rope was still swinging. Probably an errant breeze, but it made Wang So realize he was in front of the gallows. His gut turned into ice when he remembered how close Hae Su was to death. She nearly died three times in those two days. She was punished for a crime she didn't commit. His woman went under the kind of torture that broke men three times her size. There was a reason he hated the palace. The palace nearly killed Hae Su. Before her trial, Hae Su was tortured. He was already too late when he finally came to from the poisoning. He hastened to her cell, but the sight of her crumpled on the floor stopped him cold. She worn a prisoner's white smock and her delicate body looked like a twisted paper crane stained with mulberry juice. Through the prison bars, she had demanded why he drank the poison for her. He only smiled wryly, deflecting the charge, and called himself stupid. Even with her legs twisted under her, bleeding on the hay floor of the prison, Hae Su chided him to take care of himself, to not see her again in this state. He felt his jaw clench and barely choked out that she was too much trouble. She had weakly retorted that he was too.

He cursed himself. Wasn't there anything he could have done? Yes, he had intercepted the poison that his mother delivered to the Crown Prince. But it was still too little too late. Hae Su would be dead if the poison she served unknowingly had reached the Crown Prince instead of him. He didn't regret swallowing the three cups of poison. He regretted that the poison rendered him unconscious. Were he stronger, faster, even better than he was, maybe she wouldn't have a permanent limp.

Wang So found himself drawn to the gallows. He walked up the steps, stepped around the trap door, and faced the palace. In the moonlight, he could still make out the balcony where his father's chambers were. Did Lady Oh face towards the palace when she died or did she close her eyes to the the man who gave her a death sentence? Bile rose from his stomach to his throat. Could he ever forgive his father? What kind of man would give up on the woman he loved to save a son? It was incomprehensible to So. There was no one he would save rather than Hae Su.

The rules of the palace dictated that someone had to be guilty. If Hae Su was spared, it was only because Lady Oh took the blame. Lady Oh knew the price of staying alive. She knew that someone had to die. Only a life could pay for a life and Lady Oh choose her own. On the final hours of the execution, the rain poured from the sky like it was weeping. He felt utterly useless. He couldn't stop Hae Su making the king angrier. He was silent when he saw Wong Wook approach Hae Su's kneeling protest. She had glanced at him, the faintest trace of a smile at his half-brother. So felt gut-punched. He knew that Hae Su's relationship with Wang Wook was different than her relationship with any of the other princes. He knew that Wook cared about Hae Su, maybe even as much as he did, which is why he thought Wook would have figured out a way for Hae Su to be out of this hellish nightmare. Instead, nothing changed. The palace machinations of injustice rolled on without a hitch and here they were, Hae Su begging for her mentor life, and incurring the king's wrath.

Wang So shook with anger when he saw Wook turn away from Hae Su at the last minute, walking back to the safety of the palace. All the princes would be punished if they stood with her, but his most loyal brother, Baek Ah didn't care, he too, knelt with Hae Su.

With measured steps, Wang So promised that he would never leave her alone, not as Wook had. done. Her slender back was drenched. The white cloth clung to her. She was a pitiful sight. He swallowed painfully and when he was close enough, threw his cloak over her, standing in solidarity against the king who would have no choice but to punish them both. When the tolls of the executioner rang out, Hae Su screamed. She struggled, try to get stand, but she was too weak from the torture. He tried to draw her close to him, to give her some of the strength he had. He would never let her see Lady Oh's body, swinging from the hanging rope. It was too ghastly. He had wrapped her in his arms, holding her feverish body, but this was physical intimacy at the worst price. He shouted her name, over and over again, his thumb brushing against her face, willing her to wake up again. To fight again.

Another palace guard rounded the corner and Wang So had to duck behind another wall. He was still about 50 meters from the wall. He held his breath so that the soldier wouldn't see the water vapor from his breath condense in the frigid night air. When the foot soldier finally moved out of his sightline, Wang So made moves and lightly climb the wall. He wanted to get away from the memory of that day. As soon as possible.

King Taejo executed his lover. Hae Su lost her friend. He, Wang So, was banished to a far away land. The palace chewed through people's lives and left them stripped to the bone. They were all scraps in his mother's war path. The failure of his father curdled bitterly in Wang So's mouth.

He sighed and looked the silver moon. He promised that he would never leave her. But that's precisely what he did. He left her last winter.

It was certain death if he didn't abide by his banishment. The king sent him away. A year later, he finally completed his mission that the King had ordered. King. Father. Abeoji. He was angry with his father. He promised to allow Hae Su to stay in Damiwon palace, but had instead degraded her to the status of a water maid.

He touched the scar on his face. Rubbing it always reminded him of her. How her fingertips, traced his scar, lighting the sensitive nerves on his face. Self-control was difficult around Hae Su. The Goryeo women he had known all his life always gave him a wide berth. They spoke softly to him. Averted looking in his eyes. The first time she touched him, Wang So felt like his entire body was alive, only at the points where her skin made contact with his. All he desired since the day she touched his scar was to wrap himself around her slender frame. He'd be closer to her than the hanboks she wore. He would stroke and tease her, slipping his hands underneath her dress, circling her waist. Maybe going lower. The first time she applied the makeup to his face, Wang So barely made it through. She was the first person to touch his face in years. He hadn't imagined anyone, let alone the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life.

"Can I place myself in your hands," he had asked Hae Su when she made a promise that would change his life.

There wasn't curiosity or pity when she lifted off the mask. She traced the outline of the faint scar. Wang So had seen every single reaction to his face for the last twenty years. Only he had traced the strange ridge of skin that quartered his face. One long line, like a life-line in the groove of his palm, bisecting his face before it splintered off between his orbital bone underneath his eyes. Su's fingers were light, but he felt like he like was running at full speed, his heart pounding blood in his head. The air in his chest was burning. He didn't want to believe that this was happening. She was stroking the very thing that made him more animal than man. It felt wrong. He felt naked. He expected her to recoil, to do any of the things he'd seen people do. She was only a hair's breadth away and he could see that her pupils were dilated. A slight flush was in her face and she didn't notice that his eyes were fully open, drinking her in. When she finally met his gaze, she didn't recoil. She was so close. He only had to lean a fraction forward and his lips would brush hers. He swallowed hard, willing himself to stop staring at her when she was so close, and closed his eyes again. Closing his eyes might have shut off one sense, but now the brunt of his concentration was on her warmth radiating from her closeness. She smelled slightly smoky from the tea she prepared all day long at the palace. His mouth was dry. He could only imagine how she tasted. She was so close that he felt the her light even breath on against his cheek. Her light brush continued its job and when she was finished, she changed his life.

She held the brass mirror to his face and he felt his chest expand. He was in shock. The scar was completely gone. The thing that divided him against his family, kept him in exile, from duty from love, was gone. He was less than a person before she began and now he felt more powerful than a King now that she was done. No one had ever thought to help him remove his scar. People sneered at his bad fate, but only this brilliant girl in front of him thought that the world was unfair. Only Hae Su understood.

He silently lead his favorite black gelding out of the stables and mounted the horse quickly. It was the same horse on the day that he swung Hae Su from the edge of the ravine onto its powerful back. He rode silently until he was well away from the palace, and then took off in a sudden burst of speed.

He was going to the Gyobang. He was going to Hae Su.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note** Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know in the comments how you feel!

Chapter 2 - Life is Not Easy At Gyobang

Hae Su stretched out in the hot afternoon sun at a Paris Baguette in the Namdaemun Market, playing with her cell phone, scrolling through Instagram, and sucking down a creamy iced mocha-cappuccino. Sighing with contentment, Hae Su, no wait. Who was Hae Su? What a weird old fashioned named. Ha Jin contemplated her life. It was mostly good. She had a rent-controlled apartment in Gangdong district. Wait, no. She didn't. Her no good cheating boyfriend and a former best friend had pinched the apartment right from under her nose. Of course, that's why she was alone on this beautiful day. She needed to take revenge. She looked at the plate glass building next to her as she twisted her short auburn hair. Ha Jin tapped her cheeks and her reflection tapped back. She frowned at her mirror twin. She was forgetting something. Maybe it was on her phone? She started flicking through: a photo stream of friends, going to the movies, eating at restaurants, bicycling along the Han river, going to museums, celebrating birthdays, her mother making tteokbokki, her brother graduating. Weird, she didn't remember her little brother graduating high school? How on earth would she have missed that huge occasion? Ha Jin frowned into her mochaccino. She set her coffee down and tipped her head back in the sun, letting the warmth fan over her face. She felt a vibration on the table and reached for her cell phone, but the phone was in her pocket. She opened one eye. On the table where she was sitting, the surface of her coffee was trembling. The cup started bouncing around on the table. Ha Jin put her hands over the cup to stop it from spilling and without warning, the umbrella she was under collapsed.

"Otoke!" Ha Jin tucked and rolled quickly away. She was on her hands and knees when she saw dozens of people screaming and running towards her.

A rising cloud of dust gathered around the outdoor pavilion. There was an honest-to-god cavalry in the streets of Seoul, stampeding towards her with no sign of stopping. Ha Jin gaped.

These were angry, ancient soldiers on motherclucking horses who looked like they were straight out of a saguek speeding past her. What the hell was going on? One pony seemed to be gunning straight for Ha Jin and she zagged over to the staircase to get out of the way. The only problem was she miscalculated the width of the ledge she was on and for a brief moment, she was falling backwards. Ha Jin's hands stretched forward trying to grab anything that could stop her fall when gloved hand grasped hers firmly. A gigantic stallion emerged from the cloud of dust. Ha Jin felt like she was a rubberband as the hand stopped the motion of gravity and pulled her closer and closer to the sprinting animal. Oh god, the horse was going to crush her. She was gonna die! And she would never pay back her student loans. And her mother would cry that she died single. She couldn't die before getting revenge on her slimy ex!

Time slowed down into microseconds. She saw the horse's deep muscular chest, the leather saddle, and then her eyes finally settled on the rider. He didn't look like anyone she had ever seen in real life. He looked like an romance book cover, straight out of her monthly club. Dear god, those eyes. Ha Jin barely registered that Mr. Ancient Superhero had drawn her fully onto his gigantic horse.

Her voice died in the back of her throat as she tried to talk. He sat her in front of his saddle, facing him. Ha Jin gasped, he had blood smeared across half his face. His eyes searched hers and he seemed to recognize her. Ha Jin had her hand tightly gripping his armor clad shoulder. He was saying something to her, but she couldn't understand him. His eyes were so intense, fixed like a laser on her. She grew unnerved and looked away, but instead her eyes landed on his mouth and oh boy, he had an incredible mouth. Ha Jin felt like he could read her thoughts. She swallowed hard. Maybe he could? This was turning out to be a crazy day. She saw the long hair, the mask, the leather armor, the sword, the horse. Was she, dreaming? All she knew was that his body was flush against hers; he smelled like leather, sweat, and horses. Definitely not a smell she was used to. He already had one arm wrapped around her waist and he was urging the horse to go faster. She wasn't panicked. Instead a weird calm settled over her.

"Who are you?"

Before the masked rider could answer, she saw the flash of a sword and screamed. The horse reared up and the masked rider fell off the the horse, taking her with him. And when she landed, she blacked out.

Hae Su opened her eyes. Her breathing was wild and fine beads of sweat collected at her hairline. She had the dream again. The dream when she was back in her own time. Wang So was there. She shook her head and she wiped the wetness from her face. What was this? Was she crying in her sleep? She thought the dreams would stop now that he was back. She attributed to the long restless nights in the last year to the shooting pains in her legs. It didn't really explain why she would have dreams about the fourth Prince every night. Maybe she was lonely. He was always so good at talking to her like a reasonable person. She didn't count on how much she would miss those walks around their lake.

A sudden spasm of pain began again. Hae Su stifled a moan so that she wouldn't wake anyone else. With the shortage of misuri, or watermaids, in the palace, she had to do almost twice her share of work. The older misuris prized seniority over everything. As the newest watermaid, Hae Su had been through the wringer, but it still wasn't enough.

For the first months after Lady Oh's death, she barely heard her own name. Every feeling she had was dampened down to a muted grey. She couldn't taste for food for the longest time and she cried with a ball of cloth stuffed in her mouth so she wouldn't wake anyone. When Jung started sending her medicine, she dutifully took the packets and tried to make out the instructions in the script she still had trouble reading. She didn't want to make friends with any of the other misuris, even though they kept trying to draw her into conversation. She avoided them and they in turn, endlessly speculated about her. She had enough of friendships with people.

Rumor followed her everywhere. One story about her was that she was obsessed with the eighth prince and when they became lovers, that affair killed Myung Hee. Hae Su walked downstream to the farthest reaches of the stream when she overheard that one, beating the rocks in the water with frustration. Another tale was about how she was a bad influence on the Baek Ah and the king sent her away for inducing too much drinking in the prince. Hae Su almost laughed at the absurd story. It was true, she was a much better drinker than Baek Ah. One particularly galling tale was that the fourth prince raped her, got her pregnant, and when she miscarried, he had King Taejo banish her to the Gyobang. Hae Su nearly tore the ponytail off the girl who was responsible for telling that story. As it turned out, that girl was, in modern terms, a pathological liar who was trying to ingratiate herself to the head misuri. Of course, the lying girl was caught in a multitude of other lies and was promptly dismissed. It didn't matter. The damage had been done. Hae Su was known as the silent and violent girl no one wanted to help or be around. That was fine with her. She tried to never work with the other maids whenever possible. She didn't want to attempt to be anything other than what she was, a laundry servant.

Every morning, she woke up in the gyobang and worked until she was exhausted. She ate dinner and would fall asleep for two hours and promptly be awake in the middle of the night. Her fingers clutching the bedsheet, sweating coldly. Other than Prince Jung's medicine packets, Hae Su had no contact from any of the princes. She knew that was her punishment. As a girl with no status and no family, her relationship with the princes always made her a bullseye for the power players. When Lady Oh-Hae Sun's heart still hurt when she thought of her-told that she could easily end her relationship with the princes to protect herself, Hae Su had been too dumb to understand. Hae Su winced at her old naivete. She knew that her modernness was the root of her downfall. She treated every prince as she would treat any friend, instead of understanding that each man was a pawn of power, vulnerable to the motivations of more powerful parties. She became friends with the immature Eun, the super protective Jung, the artistic Baek Ah, and of course, the 8th Prince, Wang Wook. Even her relationship with the 4th Prince, she had thought nothing of the strangeness of their talks. Instead of avoiding him the way the court ladies would shy away from his imposing figure (usually in dark robes), she would run after him like a school mate. Her inquisitive nature always wanted to know how he was doing. After the first time they met, after she understood why he killed all those monks, it was like So was imprinted on her. She didn't forsee how Queen Yoo saw her as an easily exploitable asset, too weak to protect herself and too easy to kill. It was a miracle she was alive. But Hae Su didn't feel the least bit alive.

She rubbed the scar on her wrist and remembered that Wook had come to see her, finally. Her mouth turned down at the corners. She looked at the the man who had held her heart for so long. His eyes were still filled with longing. She had asked him, tentatively, did he miss her? She wanted to know that she wasn't an idiot. She wasn't some dumb girl who fell in love with an cheater. She hadn't made the same mistake twice. Hae Su sometimes thought the reason that Wook left during her kneeling protest was that their affair began with Myung Hee's death. Was there anyway to separate the two?

Her love for Wook had felt real. Wook had asked her to marry him. Was that a dream too? Did she really believe that she could marry Wook and leave the palace when the man in front of her couldn't leave the palace to see her once in the past year. Wook looked like he was on the verge of tears but Hae Su fell silent instead, she was willing to hear what he had to say. When he told her that he only needed to get more power and things would be different for her, she sighed softly. No, she said. He didn't need to worry about her. She could not hang her hopes on him again. Not after what happened. She was that foolish girl once with him. She didn't understand how dangerous her position was when Lady Oh tried to plan their escape from the palace together. Hae Su turned down Lady Oh's offer because she told Lady Oh that Wook wasn't power hungry and would never change. He was going to be her safe house. How wrong she was and now it was too late. Hae Su felt numb. Wook finally admitted that he missed her everyday, to which she smiled tightly and said it was enough.

She had lost a great deal of weight in the last year. She only noticed because her uniform was loose and roomy. Sometimes, Hae Su remembered a juicy hamburger commercial. The fatty foods of the twenty-first century just didn't exist. She could go months and not eat the same amount of fat as she would in one Domino's pizza. She remembered all the diet advertising and how she had to restrain herself from bakeries. When those memories washed up, Hae Su felt the cognitive dissonance that made her depression feel unreal. Some days, she doubted who she really was. Was she a misuri? Was she a court lady? Was she really in love with Wook? Or was she someone who knew the future? Her hallucinations of the Gwangjo seemed further away than ever. She didn't think about the future very much anymore. To be perfectly frank, sometimes, Hae Su doubted her own memories. Was she really a makeup artist? Was there really such a thing as a Samsung S7? Hybrids? These strange words sometimes clutter her mind and she had to bite her tongue around people.

Hae Su felt every pain in her body when she begin her banishment at the Goyabang. Every sharp bit of pain felt like penance for her being alive. She stretched her legs in bed to try to relieve the tension and flopped onto her back and tried to understand what it meant that Wang So came back today. It shouldn't mean anything. 4th Prince was back, but if she stayed out of his way and he stayed away from her, everyone would be safe. No one should die. Not because of her.

Still trying to get back to sleep, Hae Su stared at the ceiling and licked her lips and twisted the bit of hair at her temple. This afternoon, she thought she had lucked into the only job that the other water maids didn't want because it required a lot of back strength. Hanging laundry often took a long time, but at least it was on dry land and didn't pain her legs. She had thrown one sheet after the other onto the bamboo poles set up for drying. She was still good deal shorter and struggled. The days at the goyabang were the same. Wash, rinse, repeat. She thought how those instructions were so bland in the modern age, but now meant hours and hours of back breaking work. She survived. She knew that was more important. She could go back to her room and try to rest her legs before the river washing in the morning. The food at the gyobang was terrible and she wasn't looking forward to dinner. She was on her last sheet. She sighed with relief.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted dark armor, but it was gone quickly. Hae Su's heart skipped a second. It couldn't be. She must miss her friend so terribly that she was hallucinating him. She rubbed her eyes. The air begin to feel strange and a familiar scent mixed with the smell of clean clothing.

"You never did listen."

His clear low voice began, gently mocking her. Hae Su was awash in memories. It wasn't a dream. He had come back. He was here.

"I told you to stay put at the Damiwon."

Her mouth had no words and the hair on the back of her neck stood up, goose pimples rose on the back of her arms and she felt the charge of his body. She was still immobile. Hae Su felt like her feet were stones buried in the grass. She looked at her hands, which were trembling, trying to hold on to the clothespins in her palm. She wanted to believe that he was finally back. She didn't count the days that he was gone, it was too depressing.

"Doing physical labor suited you better than being a court lady anyway." She wanted to laugh. He always knew her better than anyone else. She didn't dare to turn around. What if she had really gone crazy? She knew missing Wang So was stupid. She was the one who drove him away from his palace. Still, night after night, she returned to her memories with him. There was no harm if it was just her and the Prince So she had in her head. Just as suddenly as he started speaking, the voice stopped. There was a silence. She held her breath. So, it was a dream. She was going crazy.

Hae Su hung her head, her eyes filling up with tears. She took a deep breath, bracing herself to stop this stupid fantasy, but the voice spoke again. This time, his solid arms wrapped around her from behind she could feel his face resting against her cheek.

"I've missed you."

The pain in her chest was too much and Hae Su finally let go of the breath that was choking her. He was back. Wang So was back. Hae Su felt like her body was going to give out, her legs were already bucking and trembling. He felt so strong against her back, like he was holding her up. She wanted more than anything to lean against him, to tell him that she missed him this entire year. Suddenly, she had the memory of him, his mouth full of blood and collapsing in the breezeway outside of the tea ceremony. She felt the cold return to her gut. No. She could not be this close to him. He should not be here. There could be a gossiping misuri nearby. The last time he was this close to her, he nearly died. She could not be responsible for ending another life because she was too careless. And Wang So, maybe he was a future king, but more importantly, he was the dearest friend she had left. It would kill her to see anything happen to him. Stiffening her spine, Hae Su put her shoulders back.

"You should not be here. Pretend you didn't see me." She bent down to pick up her laundry basket and bid a hasty exit, maybe he would take the hint.

Of course, he didn't. Wang So rarely ever did what she wanted. He took her by the shoulders and examined her closely, checking her over carefully. He looked at her like a man would look at a woman, with desire. Hae Su felt her cheeks flush.

Their relationship was a complicated one. She cared for him, deeply. She worried about his health, his happiness, his tendencies to lash out in anger. She knew a little of his history with his mother. Above all things, Hae Su knew that she wanted to protect Wang So at all costs. But her heart was too caught up in Wook. She felt dishonest reciprocating anything that wasn't entirely for Wang So.

He said over and over again that he considered her 'his person,' but sometimes she wondered if he didn't mean that he was hers.

He had done everything to protect her that was humanly possible. She wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for Wang So. Still, she couldn't return his heart, because it wouldn't be fair. She would only be entangling him in her weaknesses as a pawn of the court. No, Wang So needed to be married to be someone from a powerful family who would help him consolidate the powers and keep him safe. Hae Su's brain worked out what she could say to him to give them space, but she couldn't help scanning him thoroughly. He still looked healthy, like the hard days of campaigning had only made him tougher. She was just glad he was still whole. Of what she heard about soldiers in the Goryeo army, they tended to come back in pieces. He took her hands and stroked her fingers, which were cracked and broken from the laundry work. Hae Su felt a tinge of regret, she didn't want Wang So to pity her. Instead, he smiled.

"As always, you are beautiful."

Hae Su looked at his eyes, which were still as warm as ever, but one eye was still covered by his mask. She grew nervous. She stopped short from touching his face again and instead asked,

"Why did you cover it? Did you forget how to prepare the make up? Did your scar get worse? You hated it so much, why would you wear..."

She was cut off in mid-sentence when he took off his mask and smiled wryly at her. His scar was as skillfully covered as when she first show him how. Hae Su was taken aback, she almost forgot how Wang So looked. She stepped back, always little unnerved by the scrutiny of his gaze. She pressed her lips together and swallowed hard.

"I didn't take off my mask so I wouldn't forget you. I was determined to come back to you."

Wang So's words echoed in her head over and over again. He came back for her. She wanted to protect him, but he was a difficult man to say no to. Now that he saw her deplorable condition, she knew that her friend would do everything in his power to remove her from it. She knew it first hand. When Wang So helped her escape the marriage proposal to King Taejo, she saw it in his eyes. He was one split second away from hauling off on his horse with Hae Su, consequences be damned. Wang So swallowed poison for her. Wang So withstood banishment from his beloved father for her. And just now, he had offered her marriage to escape the palace. Not even a forced marriage, Wang So offered divorce on the same plate in case she didn't feel the same way about him. Hae Su felt herself giving up at that moment. She wanted to. She desperately wanted to marry Wang So, so they could leave. Was this the same mistake she made with Wook? Wook had also promised that they would leave the palace once they got married. But this was Wang So, who while he said he was truly never interested in the throne, was more tangled up in the game than he knew.

Wang So didn't know it, but Hae Su did now. King Taejo intended for Wang So to become king. Goryeo was such a young nation, any dispute in succession could easily bisect the entire country again and the dream of a unification would be gone. Clans would go to war, the strongest clan crushing the weakest. Princes would face off against each other, brother against brother. Because once the lines of division were drawn, the only thing left was war. Everyone she knows would meet death in a brutal way. There was no way to avoid it if powers clashed after Taejo's death. The only way to ensure the safety of the princes was to ensure Wang So continued on his path. She weighed these choices carefully in her mind. Her head said that she needed to do what was right for the future of her country. Her heart only wanted to leave the palace. She sighed and flopped over in bed and tried to sleep again. Before she closed her eyes to the window, she saw a shadow move in her sight line outside her window.

A icy coldness gripped her throat. There were no visitors to the gyobang at night, it was forbidden. Imagine, a house with women entertainers could not entertain anyone at night. At this hour, Hae Su was used to being awake and her insomnia made her vigilant to the night noises. Hae Su silently got up from her bed and peered through the window.

She saw two or three different men gesture to each other silently. They were deadly quiet. Hae Su spotted a gleam of metal on their bodies. They were armed, which meant that they did not come to make sure the washing was done properly. Hae Su snuck under the window and grabbed the wooden washing sticks she used everyday and prepared herself.

Her door silently glided open and one of the masked men stepped inside. Hae Soo could only see the gleam of his eyes in the darkness. He couldn't see her because she was in a darkened corner. He looked at her empty bed and cursed. Hae Su knew then, that they were hunting her. She was quiet in her stockings and positioned herself behind her invader. The assassin suddenly looked towards the opposite side of the room and he didn't see Hae Su, who swung the wooden bat down as hard as she could. The man crumpled like rice paper.

Hearing the noise inside the room, the two other men made a move for the door. Hae Su disappeared into her darkened corner again, waiting. The taller man spotted his fellow assassin, on the floor and suddenly, Hae Su hands, which were coated in sweat, slipped on the washing stick. The stick made an audible thump the tall man turned towards Hae Su. She saw his eyes zone in on her. She heard the sound of a sword being drawn and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to die. But here it was. Death.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Note: Please review! I love hearing from you guys. Here's what I can offer you, if you can get me 10 review before next week, I'll post the next chapter early. :P

CHAPTER 3 - How To Get Away With Murder

He sucked in the crisp autumn air and it chilled his lungs. Wang So was about halfway to the gyobang and his horse snorted huge plumes of moisture into the night air. The path was an old one. Wang So did think it was weird that Baek Ah seemed to have a little more than friendly knowledge of the back ways to the gyobang when Wang So disclosed the bare minimum of his plans to his half-brother. So knew there was only a few more hours of darkness where he could talk to Su more definitely about his plans.

There was no way that he was going to allow her to remain as watermaid. They were all subjects of the king, but she was wasting away as a palace slave. He saw it the moment he glimpsed her thin back through the white sheets whipping around her in the wind. His heart sank when he saw her. She was so thin, frail, and while her face was as lovely as ever, the light that Hae Su always had in spades seemed mighty dimmed. Wang So was determined to restore that light. He had been its charitable recipient time and time again. He wanted her to be the girl he once knew, scuffling with princes and arguing with him over whether she was a good worker or not. He had enough slaves to last a lifetime. In Shinju, he wasn't made to labor, but he was forced to fight like a dog against stupefying odds. Wang So grimaced at the memory. Truth be told, Wang So had a hard time removing himself from that time. With Hae Su, he felt wholly different. The anger was replaced with tenderness. The desperation became desire. He didn't really understand how the transmutation happened.

He dug his heels into the massive rib cage of his horse and the gelding began galloping. Hae Su's limp from the churi torture hadn't gone away, meaning that her bones were never reset correctly. This made Wang So bitter. His father had made empty promises. Although, he was not yet being punished for refusing an royal order. So wondered what his father and Jimong had in mind. But in these early morning hours, So didn't care. He was going to take Hae Su out of the palace. Whether anyone could stop him, well, it wouldn't be the first time he's tried.

On the final turn to the gyobang, Wang So stopped his horse sharply. There were three large shadows in the woods. Sometimes, he wished he had the eyesight of his wolf name, but all he could do was squint to see three grazing horses out in the middle of the night. Wang So's blood turned to ice. Something was very wrong. Men who ride horses in the middle of the night rarely had good intentions. Not everyone was out to save a watermaid in the early hours of dawn. He was only about 200 paces away from the gyobang so he tied up his horse and approached the small complex of low lying buildings.

As he rounded the corner of the building where the sleeping quarter were, he spotted a masked man following two of his companions to the low lying shanties. They walked with no noise and low to the ground so that no one sleeping in the cabins would know that their presence.

Wang So pondered his options. He could easily take out two of the men with his short blade if he found the right vantage point. He cursed himself for not bringing his longer sword. Now, he would be more vulnerable to close-to-body fighting. In the moonlight, he noticed a flash of steel and realized that these men were armed to the teeth. He didn't really want to risk an injury against three opponents. Too much room for failure and he might bleed out before Hae Su could find him. What were these men doing at a royal misuri complex? Any women in the complex were still property of the King and any assault, a direct assault on the king.

Just like the muted assassins on the first night he met Hae Su, these men were fully disguised. Wang So counted four doors from the east end. That door was Hae Su's according to Baek Ah. With deepening dread, Wang So saw them closing in on the fourth door. One of the men pried the wooden latch open and entered into the darkness.

He felt himself move on instinct. There was less than two minutes to get to the cabin. Every late second would mean something terrible could happen to Hae Su. His brain couldn't afford the luxury of planning.

"Fuck it." Wang So said to himself. There was no time for an elegant plan. He would have to try to stop the three assassins by force and not by wit.

About fifty paces from the cabin, the two other men were standing guard and suddenly spotted Wang So. Assassin number one was fast and drew his blade quickly. Wang So knew that he had no chance against a long sword, so he took it out of the picture. He darted under the first wide arc of the sword. The assassin had miscalculated how fast Wang So moved. So was close enough to the first assassin now to deliver a swift blade to the assassin's knee. Wang So knew that his knife was fast enough to cut through tendon and as soldier he knew the human body as well as a butcher knew his way around a pork chop. The assassin screamed in pain as the second man in black charged for Wang So.

So didn't have time for bullshit today. He grabbed the now nearly crippled assassin's sword on the ground, flipped the hilt just in time to catch the first assassin in the soft belly. So turned around expecting the second assassin to be at his throat, but So realized that he had been deceived. The door to Hae Su's cabin was wide open and he heard a loud cry.

The blood was pounding behind his eyes. If anything happened to Hae Su, he would wipe out the family line of any man responsible. He noticed that crumpled figure on the ground wasn't Hae Su. It was the bulky figure of a man. He caught a glimpse of the second assassin lifting his sword, and in one move, on the wings of faith and skill, Wang So yanked his short blade from the dead man's knees and flung it towards the second assassin.

A spray of warm liquid hit Hae Su in the face. Was that blood? Holy shit, was that her own blood. She didn't think about how it would feel to have her own blood splashed on her face. Oh dear gods, she was dead. She was fully dead. First the drowning now the real death.

"Su-ah!"

That was Wong So's voice! She opened her eyes and saw the two men at her feet, dead. One by her and one by Wang So.

"Su-ah. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

He dropped his sword to the floor where it clattered and he slowly walked towards her. She shuddered and shrank into herself. She covered her face, but realized her hands were completely sticky with blood.

"It's me, Hae Su. It's Wong So."

He stood in front of her now and gently gripped her shoulders.

"You are not cut anywhere Hae Su? Please, you have to show me so I can get help." His voice lowered and became softer. He used the back of his fingers and gently stroked her cheeks, wiping away where the blood mixed with her tears.

Hae Su took a deep, uneven breath and stared at the body on the ground.

"I did not want to die, your Highness."

"Su-ah. Come out of this house. I need to make sure you're okay."

"I don't-I don't think I can walk."

Wang So nodded and immediately scooped her up in his arms. They were both covered in blood, it was going to be hard to tell if she was really injured. He carried her to the outside courtyard where there were a few other misuris gathering, who had heard the noises from their quarters. The head misuri saw Wang So carry Hae Su and immediately started whispering.

"Someone get us a lamp!" He shouted at them. Eun Jae, one of the nicer misuris ran for a light and came back almost immediately.

Wang So set the lantern next to Hae Su and examined her carefully. He pulled up both sleeves to make sure that the blood on her night gown wasn't hers. He was gentle, his hands circling her waist and looking for any signs of discomfort. He stopped at her stomach.

"Hae Su, where you cut anywhere on your stomach? Or legs? If you're bleeding, I need to know."

She shook her head. There wasn't any pain, just shock.

Wang So looked at the gathering group of misuris and realized that it would get out very soon that the men were after Hae Su. They only attacked her cabin.

The head misuri bowed respectfully towards Wang So. "Prince Wang So, I wonder if Hae-Su would be better served elsewhere, outside of Songak. There seems to be no end to trouble with her."

So heard the woman's complaint and stalked towards the senior misuri, who began to tremble as soon as he was within striking distance.

Wang So went to one of the bodies of the men and flipped up his mask. These men were normal, not the tongueless monks from the royal assassination. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary for these men other than their very dead status. He turned to look at the head misuri.

"You will not speak of this to anyone. You will bury the bodies tonight. Or I swear on my father's throne that I will burn this entire lodge to the ground and bring in new misuris from Shinju."

"Yes, Your highness." The head misuri's voice sounded tinny. She had heard how frightening the fourth prince was, but she had never imagined having to deal with three of his murder victims. Truly, he was a frightening man. That story the gossiping misuri told about Wang So raping Hae Su was true. She looked at Hae Su and sneered at the foolish girl. She gestured to the other misuris.

"Start digging!"

Wang So returned to Hae Su. She was still in a daze.

"Give me your coat. Now." He barked at the closest woman and she shed it in seconds and handed it to him. Wang So wrapped Hae Su in the coat. Hae Su felt the faintest of sensations returning to her body. She felt herself being swept up yet again and held tightly against Wang So's chest as they walked away.

He was so angry with himself. He should have seen this coming. His mother. Most likely his mother had set something in motion when he returned from Later Jin. This had her twisted logic all over it.

"Hae Su, we're going to run away." Wang So, he smiled tightly. He made it sound like a joke.

"What?"

"You have a target on your back. Probably because of me. And I don't intend to stay in the palace to find out how many days you can survive. We are leaving."

Hae Su was aghast. Prince Wang So couldn't leave the palace. He was, again, giving up his place to protect her. She didn't want any more sacrifices on her behalf. Wang So's family was so important to him, especially after a lifetime of being an unwanted son. She looked at his face, which in the darkness, she couldn't read at all. Sometimes, Wang So would make a joke when he was completely serious.

"Wang So, we don't have to leave together." Hae Su tugged lightly on his hair and he glanced down at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Leave me. Let me find a way to hide on my own."

Wang So abruptly stopped walking and frowned.

"Let me down. I'll explain it to you."

He looked at her dubiously as he set her down in the woods. They were completely alone. He didn't want to let her go. Wang So missed the feel of her body against him. Whenever he had the chance to touch her, he would take it. He was incredulous that after that painful year of being apart, that she was suggesting it again.

She landed softly on the ground and looked up at him. In the moonlight, she could still see his face rapidly scanning hers, taking her in, in the way he always looked, like he was memorizing her face whenever he saw her.

"It's going to be much harder for you and I to escape together. You have all your royal gear own and I'm still in my misuri uniform. If the palace decides to look for us, we look like giant walking targets."

He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed it reassuringly.

"You're right Hae Su. We are targets. But not a common merchant and his wife."

"Wei?"

"Baek Ah and the other princes like to wear commoner clothing when they go into town. I know where they hide everything." Wang So grinned at Hae Su's confused expression. "I'll get the clothes and we'll can leave."

"I don't understand why you have to come with me. Just give me the clothes and I'll go on my way, Your highness. There's no reason for you to be involved." She tried to keep her tone as crisp as possible. Yes, he had come to save her again. It was starting to be a terrible pattern she had no reason to perpetuate. She thought frantically of a new plan since her own idea sounded so dumb. She might be safe with Wang So for now. Hae Su winced at the memory of him drinking poison for her, fighting off soldiers for her, defying his father in front of the palace for her. He was as loyal as she was when it came to friends, but Hae Su felt no wish to prolong his suffering. She only wanted peace.

Wang So sighed at her stubbornness. His mind worked quickly. He still remembered her words yesterday. She had said that he reminded her of the tragedies of the palace, of Lady Oh's death, of the brutal torture she endured. Of course, he wondered why she didn't feel the same way when she saw Baek Ah or Wook?

"It's not just for your safety Hae Su. There's been some talk of revolt at the palace and I think going to Hubakjae where the Crown Prince is could be very useful." Wang So's clipped tone made it clear that she wasn't going to get her way.

"The king is in danger?" Hae Su frowned.

"The king is always in danger."

"Is the Crown Prince in danger?"

"He is fighting some bandits on the northern border. I need him to assemble some of the northern families for an alliance. I was going to wait until he came back to send an envoy, but this is better. It's always better to talk to your people in person."

Hae Su nodded slowly.

"Hae Su." Wang So lifted her chin with his hand. "I know you don't want me around right now. But you have no family. No friends outside of the palace. You only know princes." He grinned at her. "I think this trip is the best of your worst options."

She groaned audibly which only made Wang So smile even wider.

"I will come with you since you've painted a rather bleak picture for me." She retorted.

Wang So wordlessly placed her on the saddle of the waiting horse. Hae Su sat in silence. She was yet again completely at the mercies of her circumstances. She wanted more than anything to leave all of it behind. She missed her freedom. She missed being someone unattached to rank, hierarchy, and title. To her surprise, Wang So didn't get on the horse with her, and instead walked alongside them.

Hae Su looked out at the grey light of the morning. She could start to make out the trees and the frost on the grass. The three of them breathed in rhythm together, two smaller puffs of air, punctuated by the rougher breathing of the horse.

"Thank you." Hae Su focused on the horse's mane in front of her.

"You're welcome." He patted the horse's head lightly.

"Why were you at the gyobang?" The unspoken question between them was that he always seemed to know when she was in trouble.

"I was going to convince you to come with me to Khitan."

"Really?"

"You could leave the palace. We could get married. We could travel." He stated it simply, like he didn't somehow insert a marriage proposal in between some nice vacation options.

Hae Su turned away from him so that he couldn't see the complicated train of thought she was having.

"I-," Hae Su stopped herself. She looked at Wang So's back, the straightness of his spine, the leather armor around him, the easy stride he possessed. He was utterly of this world. The way she wasn't. She didn't know anyone like him from her future. Hae Su still felt uncomfortable in her skin, no matter how many years had passed in ancient Goryeo. He was a warrior through and through. He was complicated, but his love was simple. She wondered if she could. What would being married to Wang So feel like? She could marry him. What would be wrong with her doing something that would finally free her of the palace? But marriage to Wang So wasn't simple. There was the fact that he seemed cared for her. Much more than anyone had ever done in her life. Didn't mother always tell daughters to marry men who loved them more than they loved them back? It was a smart union for her to be sure. Something Jimong said suddenly struck her. During the rain ceremony, when Jimong finally understood that Hae Su was the same as him, a time traveler, she called Wang So the fourth King of Goryeo. But if she married him, wouldn't that halt his progress? She shook her head. If she married him, it would be for her own selfish reasons. And she couldn't do that to him.

Hae Su scoffed at him. "You think being married to me would be easy? Men always think that getting married is like getting a new mother."

"Not my mother."

Hae Su started laughing. Only Wang So could make that joke funny. Wang So stopped the horse and grinned at her.

"Do you like running away with me?" He teased her.

Hae Su didn't reply but stifled a smile. "Whose horses are those?" She pointed towards the assassins three black ponies, still grazing and tied to the trees.

"If I leave these horses here, it's going to be obvious their owners are gone and those men are dead."

"Let's take them with us, Wang So. We will need money and we can sell them." Hae Su eyed the healthy looking steeds. An expensive animal like that could definitely buy them almost a month of food. She doubted that Wang So carried money around. Princes usually just commanded that things be brought to them. If they were really going undercover, they would need to hide their identities much better.

Wang So smiled appreciatively at her pragmatism.

"In another life, you would have been a great merchant."

"I definitely was." She smiled, this time for real. She loved it when Wang So figured out something about her that no one else knew. He was always weirdly intuitive about her, but maybe it was because he always listened. She suddenly thought about how close she was to death. How close Wang So was to death when he swallowed poison for her. Suddenly, she felt defiant. How dare these people try to end her life, try to end Wang So's life? Didn't they deserve to live, dignified like people and not hunted like animals. Her spine stiffened and she held his gaze.

"I want to live, your Highness. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live."

"Good. Then live. With me." He grabbed the saddle horn and swung himself onto the back of the horse. His arms went around her, so that she was encircled in him. He clicked to the horse and they started moving at a faster pace. Hae Su felt her heart skip a beat. His proximity to her always made her heart beat a little faster, her face hotter, and an uneasy tension knotting in her stomach. She had to endure it.

After a few miles, the horses got into a clipped rhythm. Before the sun fully broke above the horizon, Wang So found the little cabin that all the princes used as a changing house.

"I'll change first." Hae Su nodded. Wang So jumped off the horse. The cold air made her shiver, she missed the warmth of his body in the frigid morning.

Wang So opened the cabin and found a simple, rough robe, something that non-royals wore everyday. He found the smallest set of clothes possible, but it was still going to too big for Hae Sun. It was probably Eun's commoner disguise. He stepped outside of the cabin as the first rays of morning light spread across the forest. He blinked hard, Hae Su was directly in a halo of light. She was smiling at him and Wang So felt himself go completely still at the sight of her. Hae Su stirred something primal inside of him. Maybe it was because she always demanded that he do better, maybe it was the way her pink lips were poutier on the top than the bottom. He knew every curve of her face. Even when he was away in Later Jin, he could call up her face, as clear as she was in front of him now. He felt completely at peace when he was with her. Nothing seemed impossible in a world when she was smiling at him.

He grinned back and handed her Eun's robes and Hae Su made a face but entered into the cabin. When she came back out, Wang So couldn't stop laughing. She was drowning in Eun's clothes, but she had tied the hair band around her head so that she looked like the prettiest boy.

"Stop laughing." Hae Su swatted him lightly, but didn't fidget when he placed her back on the horse.

"I guess we're merchant and his little brother," which at least got a half chuckle out of her.

Wang So wanted to make sure they made good time and he began to urge the horse to go at full pace. Hae Su gripped the saddle, her knuckles bloodless. She still couldn't breathe. The skirmish with her assassin had left her drained. She had a few hours where the shock kept her from feeling weak, but now she was reeling from the loss of those endorphins. She tried to keep her spine straight so that that the physical contact with him wasn't overwhelming, but it was nearly impossible. She rarely rode by horseback as a court lady or as a misuri, so the thigh muscles she had to use to grip the side of the stallion sent up shooting pains into her side. Her face was white from pain. Her right knee was as sensitive as ever. She silently prayed that Wang So couldn't see her expression. It was one more thing she didn't want him worry about. The horse narrowly avoided a ditch in the road and the motion of the animal threw her against Wang So. He felt her weight shift, and worried that she would slid off. Wang So tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her close. She sighed with relief, but being closer to Wang So meant that she was hyper aware of every part of his body pressed against hers. His arms at her waist. His hot breath on her neck. She leaned into him because she was so very tired. His body was hard, warm, and felt like he had made himself an armor around her. Hae Su suddenly felt the tears that wouldn't come when he first returned yesterday to Damiwon. The horse slow to a stop, but her vision was blurred by her tears now. She was so very tired. Wang So was silent while sobs racked her body. He let her cry without reprimand.

Hae Su felt the reassuring strength of his hands, making a gentle circle on her back. Damnit, sometimes, Wang So was like a physical genius. He just knew what was right. The racking sobs subsided and Hae Su's rib cage stopped it's uneven rhythm. She felt his slow even breath tickling the nape of her hair.

"You must think I'm crazy." Hae Su finally wiped the last of her tears away. She turned around to look at him. She was about to say something to break the tension, but the look on his face stopped Hae Su. His hands cupped her face and he brought her to his mouth. Hae Su almost stopped breathing as she melted against him. The forest around them disappeared as Hae Su fell into the kiss. She felt his hands move from her face to dig into her hair. There was nothing else in this world except Wang So and his wonderful mouth against hers.

To Be Continued...!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Note: Oof, what a doozie of an episode 17, 18. I really wanted to give you guys this chapter early, but man, I was too emotionally overwhelmed. Please let me know in the reviews how you feel!

PREVIOUSLY on Chapter 3

 _Wang So arrives just in time to save Hae Su from a group of men sent to murder her in her sleep at the gyobang. Hae Su agrees on a trip to Hubakjae to see the Crown Prince and to get away from palace intrigue for a while. When Hae Su finally breaks down from the stress of her ordeal, Wang So does the only thing he knows how to do:_

 _"You must think I'm crazy." Hae Su finally wiped the last of her tears away. She turned around to look at him. She was about to say something to break the tension, but the look on his face stopped Hae Su. His hands cupped her face and he brought her to his mouth. Hae Su almost stopped breathing as she melted against him. The forest around them disappeared as Hae Su fell into the kiss. She felt his hands move from her face to the back of her head. There was nothing else in this world except Wang So and his wonderful mouth against hers._

CHAPTER 4 - Brothers From Another Mother

The morning air she breathed into her lungs was icy, but her body felt feverish. Hae Su's pulse was going rabbit-fast and she felt like she was more light-headed than the first time she was on top of Namsan towers. She felt the day old stubble stubble of his moustache scrape against her mouth. His hands cradled her face, like he was afraid if he let her go, she would dissolve with the morning mist. Wang So opened his mouth and his tongue dipped into hers. It was nearly a year ago, a lifetime ago, the first time he kissed her.

She felt overwhelmed and opened her eyes slowly and moved away. He looked as dazed as she felt. His pupils were wide and she noticed that he was breathing as hard as she was.

"Your highness. I can't. I'm-I'm very confused right now."

"You seemed upset."

"Do you kiss everyone when they're upset?"

"Of course not."

They had another moment of silence. Hae Su turned away and stared straight ahead, fixing her eyes on the horse's twitching ears. She didn't know what to say. The taste of him was still in her mouth. Their physical connection to each other was electric. Sometimes, Hae Su swore that she knew he was approaching by the hairs on the back of her neck. She shook her head. There was so many complicated things at stake right now. She really couldn't afford feeling anything for the princes. Especially Wang So.

She was only on this trip so that she could survive another day. If complicating feelings arose, she had to quash them in their infancy instead of letting them to grow under suspicion the way she did with Wook. What a lesson that was for her. She grimaced. There were so many terrible things about her affair with Wook. That it began when his wife was still alive. That he. No she-she supposed it did take two to tango-that they kept up the emotions of being in love as his wife was dying. Hae Su shuddered. They were wrong, unambiguously wrong. They were unacceptable, as Baek Ah had pointed out to her. Hae Su didn't know that Baek Ah was in love with her Goryeo cousin, Myung Hee until after her funeral.

Weeks after the funeral, both Hae Su and Baek Ah drowned their sorrows in vats of alcohol together. Luckily, Baek Ah had an in with the royal distillery. Hae Su cracked a smile. Baek Ah was her closest friend after Wang So. He was so honest with her. He knew about her feelings for Wook before she even did. But it didn't matter. In this crappy world, Baek Ah's love would go unrequited because his family had fallen, but also because Myung Hee only had eyes for Wook all those years. She sighed, everyone's missed chances felt so tragic: Myung Hee for Wook, Baek Ah for Myung Hee.

If she had just said "let's stop" to Wook years ago. If she had only moved on from Wook when her feelings were only infatuation. Instead, she had fallen in love with a married man. Waited until his sick wife died, and then waited for his proposal. She onced said to Wang So that she was afraid of herself. God, she was truly awful. Wang So didn't know about this part of her, the awfulness that she kept from him. The mental gymnastics Hae Su did. She winced now. Was Myung Hee's death a relief? Did she deserved to die so that Wook would be free to pursue herself? Did she have any right to the love that Myung Hee so freely bestowed on her?

When she was in love with Wook, Hae Su had tried to justify her actions to herself, she was only following her heart. And what a stupid heart it was. She knew. She knew from the moment that Wook applied the balm to her neck "If you let him any closer, you're hurting Myung Hee."

"If you let him any closer, you'll be hurting Wang So." She thought to herself. In the last four years, she was comforted and supported by him. He listened to her, he saved her life, he wanted her to be free. She had never known anyone like him before. Sometimes, he was the only person who understood her in this world. But he was a prince. Princes were not free, she thought to herself. If she took him at his word, married him, then what would she be other than a craven person taking advantage of an opportunity? Wang So deserved more.

"You need to control your own heart. You have your own heart." She remembered saying those words to herself when her feelings for Wook were emerging, like an adulterous sprout in a rich soil of lies and delusions. Everyone knew. Baek Ah. Myung Hee. A person's feelings could be dangerous.

More than anything, she wished to control herself again. The year that Wang So was in Later Jin, she didn't feel much. And she was grateful for the numbness. And now that he was back, she felt raw, like an exposed nerve. Lady Oh was right, no good could come out of getting involved with the royals. She needed to focus on her survival.

Wang So was quiet too. He was disappointed that Hae Su was confused by him. He thought he had been clear from the beginning. There was nothing ambiguous about his feelings for Hae Su. She was the only reason he came back to Songak. He once told her that he didn't consider affections to have different types, and he felt it still to be true. To love someone is to protect them, to live for them, to care for them. He intended to do that for Hae Su everyday of his life. She seemed to want the same things. He was puzzled. She was the only woman who worried about him, cared for him, asked him to eat, asked how he slept, touched his scar. No other court lady, or queen, or princess had ever laid a hand on him. Even Yeon Hwa, his half-sister, who was kinder to him than most, had kept herself restrained. With Hae Su, it had been different from the beginning. She always understood him perfectly. She reached out for him over and over again. She did it at the stone shrine when he was destroying his mother's altar for his two brothers. She ran after him at Eun's birthday when he was forced to unmask his scar in front of every family member. She touched him when she covered his scar. She loved him. He was sure of it.

He observed her slender back, the elegant nape of her neck, and the thick black glossy ponytail that she fashioned into the boy's style. He often wondered how she would look with her hair, loose around the shoulders. How he could run his fingers through her hair, tugging at its silky ends. Would she like it? What does Hae Su's face look like when she's was being pleasured? He moved himself back, a little uncomfortable- he was close enough to smell her, and she smelled like the fresh soap.

They rode in silence for an hour. Hae Su listened for Wang So's breathing, even and steady, as he was. Hae Su realized that other than the time when Wang So took her out of the palace because he needed to explain himself after kissing her, this was the first time she had seen Goryeo outside of the palace walls. The palace had a way of shrinking the world down within its red walls, so that its occupants cared about nothing else outside. A sense of excitement began to rise in Hae Su. She would see it all! The mountains of Hubaekje, the rivers, the people. There were no more nobles around who could manipulate and control her life. She blew out a raspberry. There was some relief in being away.

"That's the Nakdong." He pointed when it came into view.

Hae Su saw the smooth river, as wide as a field, as green as jade.

"It's so beautiful." Hae Su felt peace when she looked out at the water.

"We're taking the water ferry. It's much faster than the horses." He swung off his gelding and Hae Su noticed that he was a little more clumsy than usual. She frowned. If Wang So was injured, he wasn't letting on. He untied the three other horses from the mini caravan and pondered the situation.

She swung her leg over the wide back of the animal and hesitated on the last two feet of the jump. Horses were gigantic creatures compared to her. As she fumbled for the stirrup to get down, Wang So caught her neatly around the waist to set her down.

"What are we doing about the three horses?"

"We're far enough away. We can let them go."

"Seems like a waste." Hae Su frowned.

She noticed about five hundred paces away, there was a family hauling an enormous harvest of grains. Their ancient mare was staggering through every step.

"I have an idea." Hae Su untied the black pony and started walk towards the farmers. She had no idea what she was going to say to them when she got there. Maybe selling a horse was just like selling cosmetics. All you have to do is subtly make the customer aware of defects and then provide solutions to the defects. Simple. Hae Su knew she could do it.

"Wait, Hae Su." Wang So clicked to the three remaining horses and they all followed dutifully.

They were soon in front of the family, who were making an agonizing pace to the ferry dock. The grey mare stop as often as she started. The farmer saw them coming up the rear and moved his small caravan aside so that they could pass. Hae Su smiled at him and the farmer was a little startled. The little boy was actually talking to him. He looked like his clothing was a little too fine to be an agricultural person so the farmer took a deep bow.

"Ajusshi, I saw that your horses is very old." Hae Su tried to make her voice as low as possible. Wang So barely suppressed a snort when he heard her "man voice." Wang So noticed with great amusement that Hae Su was doing a very good impression of Eun, all surly stance and boyish energy.

"Aish, she is. This is probably her last year of working, but I cannot afford a new horse with the new tax increases this year. Maybe after I sell this harvest here."

"You don't have any money?"

"I have a little to make the trip to the southern market."

Hae Su looked at the old man, who seem like he was in a desperate situation. She glanced up at Wang So who smirked back at her. What was she going to do? The farmer had very little money, but they needed to be on the same ferry to cross the river.

"Ajusshi. I think it's your lucky day. We need to use the ferry, but we do not have extra money for our horses. Do you think you can trade us ferry fare for this healthy pony here?"

Hae-Su as Eun slapped the pony to show how healthy he was. The pony whinnied and tried to step back until Wang So checked it quickly with a tight pull on the reigns.

"This is a three year old! In the prime of his life." She lifted the horse's mouth to show the farmer the row of even teeth. "And look how tall he is! He's nearly 16 hands. And he's had a very good life. He can stud too!"

"This is too good of a deal. It is unfair to you, Sir. I do not want to take advantage." The farmer was a little wary. When people who looked like aristocracy offered a good deal, the poorer person never got the better end of the bargain. Poor people did not have fortune running their way. The farmer knew there was something amiss. He shook his head and started his caravan again, but his grey mare was reluctant to move from her resting place. She whinnied.

"Ajusshi! You would be helping us, Mister." Hae-Su as Eun gestured to Wang So, "His brother is very sick and we're traveling to see him. Time is more important to us than money right now."

"What is your brother sick with?" The farmer looked kindly at Wang So.

"None of your business." The prince snapped back. He was unused to having to explain himself to people, certainly not to any farmer. He was already annoyed that this farmer didn't see the clear advantage of the deal Hae Su was offering.

"He's not very friendly." Hae Su whispered to the farmer and the farmer nodded. "But Ajusshi, do we have a deal?" She struck out her hand for a handshake. The farmer looked at her hand, confused.

"What are you doing?" Wang So looked at her curiously. Hae Su was forever doing things that were strange for not only a woman, but for a person. He was a little taken back by this performance, she never spoke this informally, she was using slang and she sounded like she knew quite a bit about horses. Her outstretched hand shrank back and she shook it off like she was having a fit.

"Oh. I was just-stretching, ajusshi. So, what do you think?"

"I had a younger brother who was sick too. He died before I could see him. I understand your dilemma." The farmer picked out the fare from a pouch in his jacket and handed the money to Hae Su. She grinned widely at Wang So. They had a deal!

She grinned at him and shook her fist in the gesture he saw her teach to Jung as "hwaiting." Wang So chuckled. Sometimes, he wondered if she had grown up as a noble lady at all. She was forevering surprising him with the things she did know. He meant it when he told her that she wasn't like the other court ladies; she never used her body or her hands, but always used her brain. Just like now.

Hae Su realized how little she knew about ancient Goryeo. Before she got locked up in the palace as a court lady, she only went into town a few times with Chae Ryun. She didn't even know how her food in the palace got to her. There was a whole supply chain of how ancient Goryeo worked and she was only at the receiving end. This must be it. The ferry boat was grey timber, low and flat like the waters it was on, and its sails at half mast. It wasn't like anything she had seen before.

"Wow. This is an amazing ship." She glanced up at Wang So to see if he was as impressed as she was, but he was only staring at her with his crooked smile that immediately made her heart pound. She lowered her eyes and looked away.

Wang So helped her corral the three remaining horses to the landing dock. The ferry had a wide ramp entrance for the livestock and the deck was piled high with goods. Hae Su tried to tamp down her curiosity. Her encounters with the commoners was so limited. She shook her head, technically, she was a commoner too. There wasn't any royal blood in the Go family, not that she knew of. How hard was life for the people who didn't live in the palace?

"I guess he likes his new horse." Wang So smiled at Hae So. She waved at the farmer who was reloading his stock onto the new horse further away on the shoreline. "By the way, how did you know all those things about horses?"

"Jung." She shrugged. "He's obsessed with horses. He used to bother me when I cleaned the bathing pools at Damiwon. He went over everything. The different breeds of horses he liked. Which breeder had the best horses in Goryeo. Why brown horses were better than black horses. His favorite name for horses. What makes a good stud horse. What makes a good mare. Aish, I get a headache when I think about it. I got a thorough education."

"Did you see Jung after I left for later Jin?" He couldn't help but feel the ugly sting of jealousy. Jung seemed to have an easiest access to the women most important to Wang So. Whether it was his mother or his love, Jung had their attention without working for any affection. Maybe he was being unfair to his little brother.

"No. I was not to see any of the princes." She glanced up at him and the other passengers on the boat. No one was in earshot. The passengers were primarily men. One of them was already heavily drinking, playing cards, rowdy as they knew all how boring the trip was bound to be. The currents were not swift this time of year.

"How long is this trip?" She gestured to the river, "This looks like it goes on forever."

"We'll be there at nightfall."

Hae Su flinched at a burst of activity towards one of their horses. One of the traders stumbled into Wang So and Hae Su's horses and the jostled pony snorted violently. Before Wang So could yank the reins back, the pony lunged forward and bite the drunk man on the shoulder.

"Ahhh!" The screaming man ran across the boat and everyone turned to the commotion. For the first time they noticed the pair, the shorter boy and the tall man in the back of the boat.

"I'm bleeding! This bite is huge! How am I going to do my job as a water carrier if I have a horse bite on my shoulder?" The victim went around to each person on the ferry to show the damage done to his body. He shook his fists at their direction and Hae Su groaned.

"So much for not causing attention." Hae Su muttered to herself. "Let me handle this."

She walked towards the direction of the people who were all staring at the two of them. How was she going talk her way out of this one? On the one hand, it was the man's fault for getting drunk and being rough with an animal. On the other hand, it was their horse. The owner is always responsible for their animal.

"Ahjussi." She bowed to the man.

"Oh! So you're the people with the vicious horse! That animal should be killed. I'll kill him myself!"

"I am very sorry for the trouble our horse has caused. Please forgive me. The animal is very young and it was startled when you bumped into him."

"Are you saying it was my fault?" He was slurring his words and he smelled terrible.

"No. This boat ride is very bumpy and it was an accident." She forced a grin, even though every time the man swayed towards her direction, she could smelled alcohol drift from his person. The drunk stumbled towards her and shook her by the shoulder.

"You should take responsibility." He was screaming now.

Hae Su shrunk herself down and ducked out of the man's way. After all, she was small and sober and he was large and drunk.

"Su-ah." Wang So stepped closer and was about the draw the sword he picked up from the assassins. Hae Su glanced around to see the people who were in close proximity. A swordfight on a boat? Definitely bad. Very bad.

"Ahjussi. Let's have a drink together and talk about this." She found a barrel that she could perch on and invited the man to sit down next to her.

"You have more drink?" He licked his lips and looked around for more liquor.

"Sure. Who has the alcohol on this boat?" Hae Su looked around the boat and a few people were curious about this potential fight that could break out at any second. Aish, Hae Su thought to herself. Even in a millennia, people still rubbernecked in the same way.

One of the less rowdy traders noticed Wang So's sword hanging by his belt and decided to volunteer a little ceramic bottle with wooden cups. Hae Su nodded and thanked him.

Wang So placed himself directly behind Hae Su and rested his hand on her shoulder. He didn't like where this was going, but Hae Su threw him a glance and shook her head at his sword so he wasn't going to slice up every idiot on the boat.

"Who's he?" The drunk swayed towards her to ask.

"He's my brother." Hae Su glanced up at Wang So, who's face was incredulous now. "He's just protective because I always get into trouble." So did not look pleased by this prolonged transaction with the drunk man.

"Ahjussi." Hae Su poured the man a cup full of liquor. "Geonbae!" and she shot the liquor back in her throat. She hadn't had a drink in a really long time. In the gyobang, whenever the misuris started drinking, terrible fighting and gossip broke out.

"You two don't look related at all." The drunk man squinted at Hae Su's delicate features. "Do you know why I'm drinking so much?"

"Life is hard?" Hae Su tilted her head and tried to empathize. Clearly this man had troubles, wanted listeners, and they weren't going anywhere fast on the boat.

"Yes. Exactly! I am a drunk. But ever since the King has raised taxes on the land, I lost everything. My house. My land. My wife." He wiped away a tear. Hae Su wondered if the man was telling the truth.

"Are the taxes very high? That seems unfair."

"The king did not raise the taxes." Wang So folded his arms. "It's the corruption of the local officials."

"What do I care if it's the king or if it's some noble person? They're all the same. They expect us to work hard for our living and they take what we can't spare."

Hae Su frowned. She hadn't thought about the people outside of the palace since it was all she knew. She knew servants and ladies, but servants were not allowed to talk about their family life. At Wook's house, Hae Su would overhear scraps of conversation when the servants didn't know she was listening. There would be a missed birthday or a funeral almost every week at Wook's house. Even Chae Ryung rarely mentioned her family by name.

"Are you implying that the King of Goryeo isn't a fair ruler?" Wang So's voice was hard. Hae Su heard the edge in his voice, so she let her hand drop down, out of sight from the other passengers, and she tugged on the edge of his robe. Wang So ignored her and pressed on. "The King has used all of his resources to unify this country. He stopped fighting between all the warlords of the different regions. People are safer now. He needs the tax money now to rebuild his army."

"Yah? Is it right that the people have to pay the price for the nobility's war? My cousin was on the losing side in the civil war and his entire family were turned into slaves. Even the grandmother."

Hae Su's eyes widened. She hadn't thought about how the enslavement of people in ancient Goryeo wasn't restricted to the palace. She knew, but didn't. After all, when she was punished for defying the King's order to execute Lady, her punishment was being sent the gyobang. Hae Su was sure that being enslaved after a war was much worse than being sent to the laundry to work for the palace.

"Slaves are necessary to rebuild after the war."

Hae Su flinched at this statement from Wang So. This was a man who was her friend, but also believed in slavery? Hae Su felt her the bile in her stomach start to rise. She was feeling nauseous. There was such a huge gap between what she knew to be right and what Wang So thought was acceptable. They were separated by a millenia. And no matter how much Hae Su thought he understood her, she couldn't understand him at this moment.

"Your brother doesn't look like you at all. Why is he wearing a mask?"

"We have different mothers." Hae Su shrugged so that there would be no further questions. She glanced at Wang So and noticed that the set of his jaw was tight. The tension was bubbling just below the surface of his face, his eyebrows were twitching already. His weakness was his mask. Inside the palace, everyone knew to steer clear of the subject. But here in the outside world, the typical Goryeo person would have no idea that it was a forbidden topic. She gulped hard. If anyone had any curious questions about his mask, she knew the potential for a fight could break out quickly, but most of all she also didn't want to see Wang So get picked apart in front of a crowd of strangers. She remembered how horrible it was when the villagers stoned him for his scar during his first attempt at the rain ritual. His face was like he was a lost little boy again.

Hae Su decided she would use a diversionary tactic. "The mask is cursed."

"What?" The drunk man was fascinated now. The entire boat leaned in, eager to listen to these two strange travelers. Hae Su looked at the captive audience and lifted her cup. She relaxed a little bit, because now that everyone was distracted, no one was thinking about the bite on the drunkard's shoulder and people were going to ask something incredibly stupid, like request Wang So to take off his mask.

"Hyungnim!" Hae Su grabbed Wang So's elbow. "You remember when the witch cursed your mask right?"

Wang So frowned, he was completely at a loss for words and felt his annoyance at the crowd of strangers dissipate. This Hae Su was utterly captivating. She wiggled her eyebrows at him and bite her lower lip. His eyes drifted towards her mouth. It was like he was transported back to the time when they first met at Wook's house. He wondered if it was because she was no longer in the palace. Now that she was out of reach of the long arm of the palace, she was utterly different. He didn't know what to think. All the women he knew understood their own place perfectly. His mother. Yeon Hwa. Queen Hwangbo. Myung Hee. They all acted within a perfect prescribed order, never overstepping their boundaries. Hae Su was definitely strange. He wondered why she was acting so comfortable as a man.

Hae Su leaned in conspiratorially towards the crowd, who stopped their chattering to listen to the strange duo. "Well, one day my brother was hunting in the woods outside of Songak. I don't know if you can tell, but hyungnim is one of the best hunters in the land. He came upon a mask."

"Did he put it on?"

"Of course not. My brother is smarter than that. He thought that he had seen someone standing close by to the mask before he approached so he hid behind a rock."

"Was it the witch?"

"Ajusshi, do you want to hear my brother's story or not?" Hae Su crossed her arms. And one of the passengers yelled out, "Don't interrupt, drunkard!"

"So my brother, who is as fast with a sword as the wind," she glanced significantly at Wang So and the other passengers shrank back more, "He watched as a woman appeared right next to the mask. She was playing with the flowers around the mask. He was curious. So he sheathed his sword and called out to the woman. She looked him. And he knew immediately that this was someone he knew from another life. Suddenly, there was bright burst of light and she disappears. But the mask is still there."

"She's the witch."

"No. She is not. She is his lover from another life. He knew as soon as he saw her."

"Oh no."

"Yes. She haunts the mask. So now he wears the masks to save her. So that he can take her with him."

"He can never take off the mask?" One curious passenger asked.

"Would you ever take your beloved off your face?" Hae Su sat back and slugged another cup of rice liquor back. She grinned at the crowd.

The passenger debated amongst themselves what it meant that Wang So's mask trapped his lady love. Hae Su winked at Wang So, His expression was intense, like he was trying to understand a foreign language.

The orange sun melted into the water. She glanced up and noticed how the faint evening light outlined him in a burnished gold. Sometimes, looking at Wang So took her breath away. He looked deep in thought. Hae Su wondered if he thought it was a mistake to escape with her. Maybe she was being a burden. She wanted to read him clearly. They retreated to the back of the boat as they began approaching the shore line.

Disembarking proved to be as difficult as when they first got the ponies on the boat. There was still the faintest bit of evening light when they set off on a new road. Wang So tied the two remaining horses to his horse. After a few minutes, he stumbled against his horse and Hae Su barely caught him in time.

"What's wrong, your highness?" Hae Su was worried. She did not like the look on his face.

"It's nothing."

"What is it?"

She pressed her hands against his side where his right hand was clutched and noticed a faint wetness that was seeping through.

"You're injured? How?" Hae Su looked at her hands in horror, there was faint smear of blood where she pressed against his rib. "Where is it? I can treat it."

"No, get on the horse."

"We cannot ride while you're in pain!" Hae Su was frantic now. It had been hours since the the fight at the gyobang. Was he injured this entire time?

"Hae Su." He lost his patience. "We are on the run. There is no time to rest. I've survived worse injuries than this."

"No. Let me see. Take off your armor. How much blood have you lost?"

"Stop it." Wang So was reaching the end of his patience. "I can bear it. We are close to the village where I know we can hide."

Hae Su got onto the horse and Wang So gingerly stepped onto the saddle behind her and they started off at a fast gallop again. He was holding her, as tight as he could, but Hae Su was knew that that he was clutching onto her because he was in pain.

It felt like they'd been riding forever, but a small village finally emerged in the distance. Wang So was in bad shape now. His breathing was heavy against her neck and he finally couldn't keep the pain of his injury quiet anymore. He had a spasm from the injury and Hae Su felt the contraction of his muscles as the wave of pain passed through.

"There." His horse stopped and he pointed towards a small hanok on the outskirt of the village and slumped forward.

"Wang So!" Hae Su screamed as he fell off the horse.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5

Previously on Chapter 4:

Hae Su helps them successfully avoid a confrontation on the river ferry to Iri, the small fishing village where Wang So plans to hide. She doesn't realize until it's too late that Wang So has a injury from the assassins fight at the gyobang which gradually worsened over the course of the day.

" _There." His horse stopped and he pointed towards a small hanok on the outskirt of the village and slumped forward._

" _Wang So!" Hae Su screamed as he fell off the horse._

CHAPTER 5 - HEALING

Hae Su looked on in horror as Wang So fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. Her chest seized and the air collapsed out of her lungs. Hae Su was choking. Her struggling heart felt like it was going to beat itself out of her chest. Get it together Hae Su, she whispered to herself. He needs you. She was terrified. What if the horse tramples him underfoot? She yanked on the reins and held the chestnut gelding back so that the animal moved away from his body, crumpled on the ground. Using her left knee as the pivot point, Hae Su swung herself down and landed on all fours. She truly did not know how to ride a horse. Scrambling over to Wang So, she struggled to flip him around. She made one huge push and he finally flipped onto his back.

"Prince So. Wake up!" She looked at his face, which had none of the vigor and energy she knew as part and parcel of Wang So. He had cut his lip on the rocks on the ground. His eyelids were fluttering and a guttural sound came out of him. Oh thank god, she thought. He was still conscious.

"My prince!" She yelled at him, desperate to get him to wake up. Maybe there was still a chance he could walk? When he was unresponsive, Hae Su put her ear to his chest. His heartbeat was still strong. He was still breathing. They were only about hundred paces away from the hanok he pointed to, the little house in the distance, but it looked like it was hundreds miles away when she considered that she had to get him inside somehow. Hae Su knew she wasn't strong enough to carry him. Cold fear began to permeate everything. If she couldn't get him indoors, he would freeze in the autumn night. She couldn't lose him. Not again. She held his head in her lap and looked out at the freezing night sky. The stars were bright but their light was silvery and cold. They were alone.

Hae Su clutched his head close to her chest, in an attempt to keep him warm. It was a lousy strategy. Soon, she would be too cold and they would both freeze. Hae Su loosened her grip on his body when she realize the her hands were cramping. There had to be a way to save them both. She looked at the two horses, silhouetted in the night. If there was only way to get the horses to drag Wang So. She gripped Wang So's cloak tightly and realized that it was an enormous piece of cloth. Maybe she could use the cloth as a hammock to drag him along? She quickly undid the tie around his neck and she looked at the simple outfit she was wearing. Without hesitation, she untied her top so that she was only in her underclothes. Trembling in the cold night air, she used her teeth to tear into her clothes into several long stripes of cloth. She was lucky that it was a clear night outside where the moon was bright enough so that she could still see. With some quick handiwork, Hae Su braided the stripes of clothing into two makeshift ropes.

She went up to the two horses who were peacefully grazing. They were relatively small ponies so Hae Su didn't feel too nervous around them. Thank god for all of Jung's lectures about horses because she knew vaguely what to do. She whispered to the blond pony softly and offered up a handful of grass. As soon as the ponies got used to her caresses, Hae Su lead them slowly and surely over to Wang So. His breathing was still strong, but he had clearly passed out from the pain.

She gripped the newly made ropes from her clothes and tied it to both ponies' saddles. With the loose ends, she looped the ropes under Wang So's arms so that the ropes hooked into his armpit. They were sandwiched between the two horses, Wang So tied between like a bundle. Hae Su grunted and lifted Wang So up as much as she could so that his head didn't drag on the ground as the ponies moved forward. Hae Su clicked to the horses, the way she had seen him do earlier.

The black pony started moving but the blond pony refused to budge so now the three of them, horse, Wang So, and Hae Su were moving sideways. Hae Su felt the hot rush of tears spring to her eyes. This was bad! if one horse pulled too much forward, she could easily dislocate Wang So's shoulder.

Damn it no. She was going to figure this out. She laid him down gently and went back to the blonde pony, whispering to the horse gently and patting its nose. She had an idea. She undid the ropes and made the rope for the black horse longer and the rope for the blonde pony shorter so that there would be the same amount of tension in the ropes even if the blonde was slower.

Hae Su looked up into the night sky and prayed to all the gods of luck and fortune. She really needed this to work. She had to save him. There wasn't anyone to ask for help. They were alone and she needed to save him. She took a deep breath and clicked to the horses again. And by some miracle, the ponies trotted at the pace she expected, the black horse slightly ahead and the blond about two paces behind.

Soaked in sweat, Hae Su thought about how weird they must look. Four lumps slowly moving, tied together with her make-shift ropes. Her breath looked almost solid white in the chilly night air. Wang So was completely out. Hae Su winced when she thought about how long he had been suffering since the gyobang fight. How he was able to keep himself functional while they were escaping? There was no way she would ever be able to sustain an injury for an entire day.

A few more agonizing minutes where Hae Su held her breath as the ponies ambled towards the little house, they were finally at the doorstep. She peered into the window of the house; no one was inside. Testing the door, Hae Su knocked gently. It was empty. She pressed against the ancient wood and the door swung open. The ponies couldn't come inside the house clearly. Hae Su untied Wang So from the horses and hooked her arms under his armpits and dragged with all her strength. Her teeth clenched and her weak knee made her legs tremble, but with one last push, she dragged him fully inside. Hae Su fell backwards onto the floor, exhausted as Wang So's unconscious form landed on top of her.

Using the utmost care, Hae Su gingerly managed to slide herself out from under his body. She cast a quick glance around the room, the inky blackness was only broken near the window where there was still a little bit of moonlight filtering in. Hae Su fumbled around and nearly tripped over Wang So when she went from one end of the hanok to the other. Near the window, under the grey light, she thought she saw a candle. And it was! It was a huge pillar candle. Hae Su grabbed the two pieces of flint nearby and struck them until the little spark flared on the wick of the candle. She sighed in relief. Finally, they had a light.

She gripped the candle and quickly made her way over to Wang So's reclining figure. She needed to be able to clean the wound as soon as possible. Glancing at his face, Hae Su had a moment of desperation, what if this was the last time she would see him alive? This made her act quickly. With the candle burning brightly next to her, Hae Su started stripping his robes off. But the sight of his armor underneath his robes threw her for a loop.

"Aish, you really are prepared for anything, aren't you?" Hae Su lightly smacked his arm, forgetting that he was unconscious. When he didn't respond, she whimpered. Seeing him like this hurt her heart.

She gripped his armor and unlaced the shoulder pieces. The chest plates were harder to remove because they wrapped around his torso, but she soon found the seams where they connected around his side and she had to pry the adjoining pieces before the entire piece came free.

Under the armor, most soldiers wore a thick cotton batting that padded their most vulnerable parts. She quickly untied the pieces wrapped around his torso so that she could finally examine the injury. When she unraveled the final piece of long cotton, Hae Su swallowed hard. His body was covered in scars. When she surprised him at the prince's bathing pool all those years ago, she was too unnerved to stare at his body. His hand at her throat kept her pretty occupied on staying alive. How much had changed since then. Years later, here she was stripping off his clothes, desperately trying to save him.

Now, the injury was in front of her. She cringed when she saw the long cut on the side of his ribs. The wound was already encrusted with dried blood. But more likely than not, she would have to pry off the scabbed wound so that the wound would get air and stop its progression towards infection. Hae Su looked around the hanok, fumbling in the dark until her fingers touched the lip of a ceramic jar. At least she could use it to run and get some water. She thought that she spotted a well outside of the hanok and some firewood. Hours of sweat and and close contact with unclean fabric meant that Wang So's injury could easily take a turn for the worse. Su knew that most warriors in ancient times died from the infection before they died from the severity of the wounds.

After she ran outside for the wood and water, Hae Su staggered to the small stove and stuffed the interior full of wood and set the water to boil, she finally had a moment to be still. Hae Su was exhausted. Only adrenaline kept her going. If there were clocks in ancient Goryeo, Hae Su guess it was around midnight or so and they'd been traveling since day break. She sat on the outside step of the hanok and looked at the moon. Suddenly, grief travelled through her body. A small hiccup eventually turned itself into an unstoppable crying jag. Why was living in Goryeo so hard? She had narrowly avoided death this morning. Wang So had been injured, again for her. Using his body to be her shield. She was sick of it. She was sick of the violence.

Would Wang So have to suffer so much if it were not for her?

"You can't fail him, Hae Su." She wished that somehow that their lives weren't always in danger. That enemies would leave her in peace. "I just want to live." She glanced back at Wang So's figure next to the candle.

The water was finally hot enough; Hae stirred in the strips of cloth she tore from her clothing and let the cotton bandages boil. Tomorrow morning, she would head into the village to find honey or alcohol to thoroughly clean the wound. Maybe she could find a good batch of yarrow near the small stream they passed on their way to the hanok. Her first priority was to keep Wang So from a potentially deadly fever, to get him through the night. He was too quiet. She laid her hands on his chest and felt the steady rise and fall of his breathing. It was reassuring.

The hot cloth stripes came out of the pot steaming and she let the stripes cool for a few seconds before applying the clean bandages to his wound. He was still unconscious but he shivered when she applied the hot bandages to his wound. As expected, the wound reopened. Hae Su pressed the clean cloth until the blood stopped seeping out. She brought the candle closer and gently pried the pieces of cloth from his armor batting that she could see in the wound out of his flesh. More hot clean cloth compresses. More gingerly cleaning of his wound. It must have went on for an hour when Hae Su was finally finished. Thank god he was unconscious because the work would have been much harder if he were flinching at every touch. She wanted to lay down and rest.

In his sleep, he didn't look like a deadly prince anymore. He looked younger and less troubled. Hae Su held her breath as her eyes traveled up and down his torso. She hadn't seen a naked man in a really long time. Not since she arrived in Goryeo. She only vaguely remembered her old boyfriend from Seoul. The last time she saw any number of naked men was when Goryeo Hae Su snuck into the prince's bathing pool.

Wang So's body was covered in scars, like a map of every single bit of violence done to him. She remembered when she first entered the palace as a court lady, he had told her the story about a tree he had in Shinju that was his friend. He had to burn it down when wolves attacked; the fire kept the violent predators away but it was the only thing Wang So referred to with affection when he talked about Shinju. She spotted a scar, three stripes of raised tissue on his right shoulder. She wondered if it was the claw mark of the wolf. Reaching out, she drew her hands back at the last minute.

Hae Su sat back, wrapping her arms around her tucked in knees, and took in his lean form. He wasn't huge, but he had broad shoulders, a flat chest leading down to his slender hips. All over his abdomen, she could trace the lines of his muscles, two stripes of stomach muscles and the hip notches which lead to-Hae Su stopped herself and blushed. She didn't think about him in that way. His nipples were small and brown, neatly placed at his pectoral. Her eyes traveled back up to his collarbone, which fascinated her. The notch in his collarbone was beautiful, the little hollow collecting sweat. Suddenly, Hae Su realized that he had a fever.

Fuck! She thought. She was too late with the injury cleaning, his body was already trying to fight off an infection. She was only in her underclothes so she grabbed the robe that she just got off of Wang So and tore out of the house and began running towards the village. Surely, there had to be someone awake who could help her.

Hae Su ran down the narrow dirt road, with no light except the moon at her back. The hanok felt like an hour on horseback away away, so she must be at least three hours away by foot. Hae Su's limp was back in full force, she whimpered as she ran since there was no one else around to hear her. In the palace, she never let anyone know how much pain her legs caused her. But here in the middle of the remote country, she didn't give a damn. She was going to scream if it would get someone to help her and Wang So faster. Suddenly, her toes stubbed against an invisible hole in the road and she fell face first into the road. The dirt was in her mouth, it stung her eyes, and it worked itself into her hands where she had scraped it against the pebbles in the road.

Hae Su sat in the middle of the road and screamed in frustration. She felt like she was drowning. This day was going from bad to worse, to a potential dead Wang So. She spun from north to the east and realized that even she found the village now, there was no guarantee that there would be a doctor in the village. The wound was bad, but if the fever started already, it was more important for her to return to his side to keep him hydrated and to wrap him in all the blankets she could find.

She started on the dispiriting walk back to the hanok, with no new solutions or medicines at hand. With all the limitations of being just a woman in a world like Goryeo, she grew more and more angry. She felt like she was forever reacting to some terrible situation. She had to find a way to control her life more. Hae Su made a promise to herself. The little voice inside her head whispered about Wang So, what are you going to do about him? Hae Su reeled herself back. What could she do about Wang So? He seemed determined to pursue her, no matter how harsh the rejection-she had turned down one marriage proposal, one running away proposal, one declaration of being her person-or how awful the consequences-drinking poison for her, going into exile for her. She count on her hands the number of times her actions caused him irreparable harm. If she were him, Hae Su would keep a wide berth from herself.

If he had her, how much damage could she cause him? After all, she wasn't even a court lady now, but just a lowly gyobang watermaid. She imagine the ridicule that they would both suffer, reaching for each other in the vast distance between them. A prince and the laundry girl? It sounded like some 21st century romantic comedy premise. But this was Goryeo and there didn't seem to be a lot of laughter here. She thought about him, lying alone in the hanok. In the last few hours, Hae Su realized that if anything were to happen to Wang So, that she would feel a deep aching emptiness, a darkness that she couldn't even fathom the limits of.

Was it just a physical attraction? She had never found his scar to be unattractive like all the other women of Goryeo. She thought it made him look a little dangerous, but that wasn't a bad thing. But that's the 21st century for you, always figuring out the positive. They had physical chemistry in spades. Hae Su always felt like there was no other man in the room when he was there. Every single nerve endings of hers fixed on him. His voice, his smell, his gaze. Now that he was back, she was feeling the effects of him in full force.

When did it come about like this Hae Su wondered as she kept trudging back. She could swore that she did nothing develop her feelings for Wang So. The year he was away in Later Jin, she did nothing except dream about him, but that was her subconscious. She wasn't purposefully trying to fall in love with him. But there it was, she couldn't turn from him. Not since the moment he drank that poison so that she would avoid suspicion. Or when he threw away his princely status to stand before the King in the rain with her. No one had ever done so much.

The night is the darkest before dawn, Hae Su thought as she finally reached the hanok. As she walked into the darkness, she hesitated before she reached him. She was afraid that his condition had worsened. What would she do then? She knelt, painfully, next to him and placed her hands on his forehead, the fever was still burning in his body. Hae Su found the bedding in the house and laid out the the yo on the floor. She didn't really want to move Wang So, but if he was on the floor the entire night, he would catch a chill.

After rolling him onto the blankets, Hae Su figured out that she could push him and the blanket across the smooth wooden floors to the bedroom area. She observed that the wound was still inflamed but it looked better than before. Wrapping the remainder of the blankets around him, she would have to wait until morning to head out and find a some anti-inflammatory plants and maybe jujube tea if she were lucky enough to happen upon a herbal doctor. Hae Su wished to god that penicillin were invented already, then she could be sure that this terrible infection would pass.

"Su-Su ah."

"Oh! You're awake." She immediately placed her hands against both sides of his face as his eyes opened. "Can you hear me?"

"Su. Are you, still my person?" He muttered, "my mask...you...covered...me." He was feverish and incoherent.

"Your highness! Can you hear me?" She tried patting his cheek, but his eyes rolled back and he began groaning. She grabbed his hand and held it close, it was about the only impotent gesture she could make. She had no painkillers, no antibacterial medication, only herself as comfort.

"Su." His eyebrows twitched and it looked like he was struggling with a thought. "Love you. Only you."

She dropped his hand. Hae Su was shocked. She couldn't believe it. Wang So was in love with her. The idea twisted up everything she knew to be true about the last few years of her life. When did it start happening? When did their friendship turn into love? He couldn't love her. It was impossible. She made his life so hard. It had to be some kind of fever talking.

"Shh-" she placed her hands against his forehead. "You have to rest. Please don't talk about nonsense." Hae Su dripped the water she boiled into his mouth. He was sweating a lot and would quickly become dehydrated.

The night before he rescued her from the gyobang, Hae Su and told him that he was the last person she wanted to see. That seeing him brought up too many painful memories. She remembered how his face looked when she tried to stab through any of his hopes that he could rescue her again. He looked mortally wounded. Hae Su didn't blanch at the knowledge that she was hurting him, she only knew that she was protecting what was important.

She was shocked that he proposed only a few hours later. It was like the more she pushed him away, the more ardent he became. Hae Su didn't really know what to do. It was getting harder and harder to ignore her feelings for him.

A stream of sunshine hit the window pane next to them. Hae Su blinked and realized that she had to leave him again. She stepped outside the hanok and stretched out into the cool morning. There was such beauty in this ancient world, the likes of which she had never seen before. The tiny hanok that they were in was in the middle of field surrounded by the high trees of a dense forest. Only a small horse-path winded about five hundred paces away from the property would let you know that the hanok was connected to civilization. It was late autumn, so all the tree were changing colors. Trees of orange and gold were everywhere. She wished Wang So were awake so that she could show him. Hae Su clutched Wang So's robes closer to her body and breathed in his smell. She had to retie everything so that his clothes didn't drag on the ground when she went out. The fields were covered with a low fog so it was difficult to see. Hae Su started walking through the morning mist, golden and cloudy, her foot striking the horse path solidly.

After about two hours of walking, Hae Su found a distinct river bend that grew a thick batch of yarrow that she recognize from all of Lady Oh's training manuals. She crouched into the riverbed and gathered as much as she could, tying the bundle of plants together from the cloth bandages she had made earlier and tied the entire bale to her back. She could see the tiny village in the distance.

Upon entering the tiny village, she got many many curious looks. Villagers thought she was a small boy dressed in his father's clothing. She ignored them all until she saw a friendly looking man with a cart full of plants not for eating. She waved to the man.

"Ahjussi!" The medicine man stopped and stared at her. Hae Su waved her money. The farmer who gave them ferry fare was kind enough to give them a few extra pieces of silver for the good deal Hae Su gave him.

After a quick bargain, she set back towards the hanok with a cup of jujube she could use to reduce inflammation and a small amount of honey she was sure could disinfect the wound. She was glad to be anonymous, as strange as she looked. Everyone gave her a curious look, but people were too busy in their lives to really pay her attention.

She arrived back around midday. It seemed that the fever had finally passed, through no intervention of hers really. His body was just strong enough to overcome the infection of the wound. Hae Su smiled ruefully, she really shouldn't have been as worried as she was. He was so strong.

As quickly as she could, Hae Su grounded up the yarrow into a clean paste to be applied after. She crushed the jujubes into the water and set the entire container to boil. When she was finally ready, she turned back to Wang So's sleeping form. Good, he was still out. Sleeping was probably the best thing for him right now.

Peeling back the comforter, Hae Su examined the wound. It was no longer angry and red. She sighed in relief. She spread the thick honey on a clean bandage and applied it to his ribs. After smoothing out the poultice, her hands didn't seem to want to leave his body. She let herself linger on him for a few minutes. Her fingers lightly tracing every scar on his body, her eyes curiously trying to understand what each injury was.

"What are you doing?"

Hae Su gasped. Wang So was awake.


	6. Normal

**CHAPTER 6**

 ** _Previously in Chapter 5_**

 _Peeling back the comforter, Hae Su examined the wound. It was no longer angry and red. She sighed in relief. She spread the thick honey on a clean bandage and applied it to his ribs. After smoothing out the poultice, her hands didn't seem to want to leave his body. She let herself linger on him for a few minutes. Her fingers lightly tracing every scar on his body, her eyes curiously trying to understand what each injury was._

 _"What are you doing?"_

Hae Su gasped and shrank back.

"Are you looking at my body?"

"No!" Hae Su was mortified. It wasn't as bad as Wang So dying, but she wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out again.

He grinned weakly, Wang So was still pretty out of it. He vaguely remembered that they rode at night until they reached Iri. But after a span of time, he blacked out from pain and had no memories afterwards. He looked around the tiny hanok, at Hae Su, who was dressed in his clothes. He frowned, how the hell did his tiny woman get him into the cabin? If he had no memories after falling off the horse, then she must have had help.

"Who was it? Who dragged me in here? Is he still here?" He snapped and struggled to sit upright. He was worried that Hae Su might have befriended someone who had ulterior motives.

"No one is here." Her eyes flared and she pushed him back down onto the futon. "Yah! How do you not trust me yet? I did it all. I dragged you from where you fell off the horse and got you in here." She blew out her lips in frustration. "There was no one to help us. We got here in the middle of the night. The closest village is about three hours away on foot."

"Oh." He laid back down, sheepish. "I just thought-"

"You thought I was some dumb girl who would go crying for help as soon as you fainted?"

"I did not faint."

"You did faint. You suffered a pretty deep knife wound. While you were rescuing me. Stop trying to do everything. And let me help. I can help too, you know?" Hae Su glared at him and left his side to stand by the stove to stare the the jujube tea. She was steamed.

Wang So felt terrible for a second. He had underestimated Hae Su. She was so much more than just a woman who needed to be rescued. She was like a willow, yielding and strong, but never breaking. He sighed and realized that he had been too focused on his motives. He never thought about how she would approach a situation.

"I'm sorry." His voice was still raspy. "I should have trust that you could have made the right choice."

"You should have told me you were injured." She didn't look at him, but continued stirring the tea.

"We didn't have time for me to be injured. I was trying to get us here."

"What if things didn't work out, Wang So? What if you fell of your horse farther away? What if we had met bandits and you couldn't defend us? There's a million ways that everything could have gone wrong. Stop keeping me in the dark." She was sullen and poured the entire pot of jujube tea into three ceramic cups. She finally turned to look at him and said in a steely voice.

"Don't ever hurt yourself for me again. I can't stand it."

"Why is that?" He watched as her shoulders sagged.

She was silent for a moment. Wang So observed how deliberate her movements were, how different she was than the carefree girl he used to talk to at Wook's house. She placed the tea cups carefully onto a platter.

"I hate it like crazy."

She limped over to where he was lying down and gingerly set the tray down near his head. She slowly sat down, wincing at the new pain in her leg, and gestured to him to lift his head up so that he was resting in her lap. Blowing on the hot tea, she cooled the liquid and lifted the cup to his mouth.

"Drink this." She murmured. "It will help with the infection."

He did take a long slow sip, but he never stopped looking at her face. She was worried and her lips were set in a firm line. He had never seen her like this before. There was one other time. Before he got her out of the gyobang, immediately after he returned from Later Jin. He thought he was being very reasonable when he told her that he would help her the same way she helped him. She had the same expression on her face- the fear and helplessness in her eyes-that she she had now. He wanted to take it all away. But in this state, he couldn't think of anything that would help.

"Don't think that you being mad at me is going to make up for the fact that you were staring at my body while I was unconscious. Did you not get a good enough look at the bath the first time?" He hoped that a joke would take the edge off.

"What?" Hae Su scoffed. "I was dressing your wound! Or would you rather not have my medical attention?"

"Did you enjoy it?" He smirked and Hae Su narrowed her eyes and tipped the entire cup of jujube tea into his mouth. He almost snorted in the liquid and started choking. The choking gradually turned into laughing. Hae Su tried to keep the smile off her face, but it was incredibly hard. She liked it when Wang So laughed. It was so rare to see him enjoying himself. But the laughing soon turned into wincing.

"Stop laughing." She chided. "You'll ruin my poultice."

"Thank you, Hae Su. Can I have another one?" He smiled and raised his eyebrows. Hae Su sighed and grabbed the other cup close by. He was impossible when he was like this.

If not for the fever he had just been through, and the shooting pain on his side, Wang So was in heaven. The last time they were so physically close, they were both on the verge of death. First, when his mouth was filled with blood from the poison and Hae Su ran to him like her life depended on it. He vaguely recalled the sensation of her pulling him into her lap and cradling him. And at Lady Oh's execution, when he held her small body as she struggled in pain, knowing that she could do nothing for Lady Oh. She fainted in his arms then. Seeing her beautiful face, bruised and beaten by the palace guards, was something he would never forget. He was so close to losing her. One bad choice and she would be gone from his world. He could never let her go.

By comparison, he would endure a thousand knife wounds if it meant that Hae Su would be there to take care of him. He was surrounded by her scent, the warmth of her lap against his head. She held his head as he drank from the cup in her hand. Wang So had never been nursed like this before. When he placed his head in her lap again, he sighed. This whole plan was worth it to him, if just for this moment. He wasn't sure if he would ever get to be this happy again. He felt peace and struggled against the sleep that was coming for him.

Hae Su was really annoyed at Wang So. Of all the things she had suffered since their escape started, that he would tease her so badly for something she wasn't even really guilty of. He had no idea what she had endured to make sure he was okay. Her Herculean effort reduced down to some basic instinct stuff. Aish, he really pissed her off! She would totally give him a piece of her mind when he woke up.

She absentmindedly played with his hair as he slept in her lap. She thought about how she acted when she was around Wang So. Sometimes, she was badly tempered. Sometimes she was needy. Sometimes, she would just complain and complain, like he was her best friend. With Wang So, she was completely herself. She never felt a need to pretend to be perfect, the way she did with her exes. Wook never knew how nervous she was in the palace. It was only the fourth prince that she trust all of herself with. Even if she tried to keep him in the dark, Wang So always figured her out. She sighed. He was so stubborn.

When he was sleeping, the fourth prince looked so young and vulnerable. All the intimidating looks and glowering went out the window. Hae Su started brushing the hair out of his face and traced the scar on his face. It was nothing. She couldn't understand how anyone could see him and only see the line of discolored skin. Her fingertips lightly traced the outline of his lips and chin. He had an incredible mouth, perfectly notched on top and a full lower bottom lip. In the twenty-first century, he'd be some kind of lip balm model. Hae Su grinned at the idea of Wang So shilling for cosmetics. It would be so funny.

"Su-ah." He murmured in his sleep.

"Yes?"

"I'll never let you go."

Her heart was moved. She wanted him. Her body wanted him. Her mind was the even earlier betrayer. She bent down and kissed him full on the mouth, upside down, tasting him, enjoying the smell of him, letting it fill her nostrils. She only felt slightly guilty. It was his punishment for making fun of her that he wasn't awake for the first time she kissed him. She was falling for him. It was like her heart had been tugged along by him, but these last days two days of near losses made her tumble hopeless forward instead of restraining herself. She sighed. Love was such an illogical reaction. When she pulled away, Hae Su smiled to herself. It was her secret. She would let him know when she was good and ready.

Wang So woke up the next day, alone in the hanok. He didn't know what happened, but his battle weary body slept for more than a day. He sat up and noticed the careful dressing on the side of his body. Hae Su was gone. In a panic, he threw off the blanket and winced as he got up. The knife wound was still smarting, but it was much better than a day ago. Where could Hae Su be? They were in the middle of the country and she didn't know anyone. He ran outside and looked around the small property. Hae Su was nowhere to be seen. A cold fear settled in his chest, what if Hae Su was hurt somewhere? She wasn't very strong and she couldn't run quickly.

He tore out of the cottage without a thought to what he was wearing. He saw a small figure in the distance, which must be Hae Su. He didn't see the three women who were on the horse path away from the hanok; they were used to bare-chested men, but they weren't used to Su's princely carriage charging out in the middle of the day. He stopped when he realized that he was only wearing his baji i[pants]/i, but it was too late.

"Su-ah!"

Hae Su turned around from where she was gathering herbs and saw Wang So, stripped from the waist up, like he was a yeoman at the end of a hard day's labor. Su's eyes widen and her breath caught in her throat. A strange warmth began spreading through her body. Beginning in her stomach and spreading lower. Su squeezed the herbs in her hands so hard that she left a green stain in her palm.

"Stop yourself. This is Wang So. He's been injured. You can't think this way about him."

Wang So strode towards Hae Su, oblivious to the three women who had seen him. He was relieved to see her. When he finally got her, she was still sitting on the ground, a little dazed. The midday sun was a crown around his head and she squinted up at him.

"Su-ah? What are you doing out here?"

Hae Su looked at the women, whispering to each other. She felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. What if they talked? What if word of the scarred prince and the limping girl started spreading to different towns? She glanced at Wang So's face. His face was still partially covered by his hair. Good. She was going to have to figure out a way to create make up on the run so that no one recognized his famous scar. Her brain immediately started recalling the apothecary shop she had seen in town. She could make do. After all, when she was a modern girl, she was the queen of DIY and there was nothing more do-it-yourself than the 10th century.

"Come with me, everyone's staring." Hae Su grabbed his hand and hoisted herself up. She wanted to get them back to the hanok as soon as possible.

Her hasty awkward shuffle was back. Hae-Su winced. Her limp had been better in the last two weeks, but the skirmish at the Gybobang had set something off. She felt a pair of strong hands grab her by the shoulders. In a split second, she was hoisted over his shoulders like a sack of radishes.

"Yah! I don't need help!" She dangled in midair.

"Stop, Hae-Su. Stop struggling. You'll just make your legs worse."

"I can walk, Wang So!" She fidgeted at the top of his shoulders. Her breath stopped when her eyes took in the fine muscular lines of Wang So's back. In the 21st century, Wang So would look small next to some of the muscle bound covers of magazine, but here in the tenth century, Wang So looked bigger than most of the men she had seen. His shoulders were broad, tapering down to a narrow waist. There wasn't a single scrap of unwanted flesh on him. His body was efficient, lean, meant to withstand months of riding campaigns, and battling the elements outside.

"You're awfully quiet back there."

"Wei? How do you expect a person to hold a conversation upside down. Put me down!"

"Why? I don't want these women to think that they have a chance." He grinned and patted her bottom. Hae Su let out an indignant puff that was extremely unladylike. She couldn't see Wang So's grin.

Hae Su raised herself clumsily on his shoulders and saw the hanok in the distance: their three horses still peacefully grazing near the little cottage, the little building set back far from the horse path, the grove of fruit trees near by. All of a sudden, Hae Su wished that they could stay in the little cottage, far from the world. She wished with all her heart that it wasn't just a temporary stop on their way to Hubaekje. She could pick herbs and Wang So could, she didn't know, maybe make swords? What did princes do for a living? If she could wrap them in a crystal bubble where this was their lives, she would. She would protect them with her entire heart. To have Wang So close, to live with him, to tend to their lives carefully like she wanted. She realized it was the same fantasy that Lady Oh had with King Taejo. She wanted to live a life outside of the palace. She did not want to return.

He sat Hae Su down, as gently as he could, and noticed that she had a far off expression on her face. She smiled at him.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm glad you've recovered. But was there any reason to show those women your body?" Hae Su sounded mildly annoyed.

"No. I couldn't find you. I don't like not knowing where you are. Especially with the danger that we're facing." Wang So sighed and clasped her hand. "We're more vulnerable than I'd like. I have many enemies. Prince Mu has many enemies." He knew that his primary foes were most likely Wang Yo and Queen Yoo. The extent that Hae Su's family, Wang Wook, was involved, he didn't know. He didn't want to reveal all of that to Hae Su. He had only returned from Later Jin to find a power vacuum in Songak that was growing by the hour. His father was sick, on his deathbed. And if he were a good son, he would have stayed by his father to make sure he made the peaceful transition between life and death. But it was either stay to watch the King die or hold Hae Su's dead body in his arms if he had not been at the gyobang when he was. Wang So thought he had made the right choice. He couldn't live without Hae Su. But a choice always begets a new series of problems.

Hae Su's face was open, expectant, waiting for him to explain himself. He had no idea how to unravel the whole thing for her.

"As soon as I am good to travel, we will ride for Hubaekje to meet Prince Mu. I have reason to believe that Yo is going to revolt. Several of Mu's people have advised me that Yo has been building an army with my uncle. I'm still trying to understand why anyone would target you. But it has to be because they've seen me with you many times. Maybe they weren't planning on killing you."

Hae Su nodded. "You don't know everything. That's okay. I'm glad we're out of the palace." She lifted his arm and looked at the wound, which was still covered in the mud plaster she devised. She nodded. It still looked okay.

Hae Su went into the tiny kitchen area and started stoking the fire. She kept an eye on him and grabbed a few things off the counter. Wang So watched her, mystified by this domesticity that was as foreign to him as China.

"Do you want to eat?"

Wang So was startled. The way she asked him that familiar question sounded like they often shared a meal together. The question made him feel flushed and embarrassed. He didn't realize how it would make him feel to be care for in this way by Hae Su. Her back was still turned and she stretched for a small bowl on a top shelf farther away than her hands could reach.

Wang So went to help her, reaching from behind to grab what she needed. Hae Su took a sharp intake of breath. He was so close to her. His bare chest bumping into her back. He backed away when he saw how tense she was.

"Here." He handed her the bowl.

"You should probably put on some clothes." Hae Su refused to turn around and looked steadily down at her hands.

"I think you're wearing my clothes."

"Oops." Hae Su chuckled slightly. "Okay, I'll figure out how to buy more clothes in the village tomorrow. Here wear this outer robe before you get chilled."

Hae Su unbelted the thick outer robe that was his. She was just in her sokchima [underskirt] and and translucent joegori. Wang So was a little startled by Hae Su's candor. Most noble women didn't undress in front of anyone other than their husbands. He coughed uncomfortably as he snuck a glance at her.

"Aigoo, there's nothing to see." Hae Su teased him when she saw his shy expression. "I have just as much fabric on as if I were wearing your clothes."

He put the robes back on and didn't know what to do with himself so he sat down at the table and waited for Hae Su. She turned and grinned.

"Wait a moment. I'll make something delicious."

He had a hard time staying still watching her. There was a lightness to everything at this moment. No palace, no queen mother, no assassins. Hae Su was humming a song that he didn't know, but her voice went straight into far recesses of his mind. The smell of food permeated everything, wrapping them both in the coziness of the hanok; if Wang So were a poet, he would try to seal this moment in a poem, so that he could look at it forever. This was his dream, and it was here. Sitting at a kitchen table, watching the Hae Su make lunch for the two of them. The fourth prince never dared to imagine such a thing. He had no idea there was such intimacy in preparing and sharing a meal together. It was a rhythm of life he had never experienced and he was hesitant to break the spell. Hae Su set several banchans down and large pot of soup into the center of the table.

"I only know what you like to eat for dessert, so I have no idea what foods you liked normally. So I got everything. Is that okay? You don't have to eat it if you don't like it? If you do, I will get more." Her voice was pattering along at a faster speed than he had ever heard before. Was she nervous?

"How did you make this happen?"

"While you were out yesterday, I lent out the two of the horses to a local farmer who needed a hand." She grinned. "All I asked for in return is some food from his wife and look at all this! All I had to do was make the rice."

"Is that what's burning?"

"Aish! Why didn't you tell me that it was burning?" Hae Su ran back over to the stove just as the pot start smoking. She yanked the pot off the stove and peer under the lid.

"Okay. How do you feel about mostly unburned rice?"

Wang So knew Hae Su as a lot of things. His person. His light. But great cook wasn't one of of those things. She saw his hesitation and narrowed her eyes.

"It's not that bad. And the farmer's wife made most of it."

She scooped out the unburned rice and brought it over to the table.

"You have to eat, Wang So."

Wang So didn't know what to say. He picked up his chopsticks and quietly started eating. When she started putting food in his bowl, he glanced up at Hae Su. She didn't seem to noticed how shocked his expression was. For her, caring for him was as natural as breathing, but to him, receiving such treatment felt astonishing. He was always in awe of how much Hae Su was willing to give him. There wasn't anyone like her in the world or anyone who got as close to him. Sometimes when he wasn't with her, he felt like a part of himself wasn't alive. It was like the moment at Eun's birthday when she sang for all of them, Wang So realized that he only wanted her to sing for him. Now, he only wanted wanted her. She was eating and dreamily looking out the window at their three grazing horses.

"It's good right?"

"What are you thinking about?" He quietly asked.

"Just how peaceful it was here. This is probably the first meal I've had that I haven't been worried." She turned from the window to look at him.

"You have to eat lots, okay?" She made her weird hand gesture that he had only seen her make with Baek Ah. He grabbed her hand and his thumb stroked the scar that was there.

"Thank you, Hae Su."

"For what?"

"For saving my life. For this." He wasn't really someone who expressed himself well.

"I didn't save your life. You wouldn't have been fine. I think I just made you a little more comfortable."

"I don't want to live without you, Hae Su." His eyes looked steadily into hers. Hae Su swallowed hard. Her feelings for Wang So were already smoldering, and this new layer of domestic intimacy just added to the fire. She felt her heart pounding rapidly and the blood rush to her face.

When they finished their meal, Wang So stood behind Hae Su and dried the dishes like she instructed.

"Your highness has never done dishes?" She gave him one of her pouty side smiles. "Lucky."

"Yes, I was too busy killing wolves to do dishes." He took another bowl from her and dried it obligingly. "This kind of work does not suit me."

"Weren't you the one that if I worked hard, I would forget all my problems?"

"I'm not right about everything." He shrugged. "About tonight. You can have the hanok. I will sleep outside. I spent most of my time in Later Jin sleeping outside so it will be familiar to me."

He was surprised when she shook her head vigorously.

"No. That would not do. Everyone in the village already thinks that we're married."

"Married?"

"How else would I explain a man and a woman traveling together? Besides, there's too many single girls in that village. They might throw themselves at you and I won't be able to do anything."

"Pabo, why would anyone be throwing themselves at this face." He joked back.

Hae Su grew quiet. "I don't know why they wouldn't. That scar. Means nothing." She squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"No one will see me sleeping outside. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

Hae Su handed him the last dish and pondered his face. As he dried it, she tilted her head.

"What happened to the prince who would kidnap me from the palace just to show me the ocean? You said you weren't sorry then."

"I want you to come to me, Hae Su." He put the dish down behind her. They were only inches apart and the tiny hanok felt smaller than ever.

Hae Su stared back at him, unblinking, her lips slightly parted. Her pulse was going so rabbit-fast that she felt light-headed. The closer he was, the more overwhelmed she felt.

"I have to redress your wound." Hae Su cut herself off. She went around him to where she set up her kit and gestured to him. Wang So nodded. He wasn't sure what happened, but it seemed like Hae Su was wavering. Maybe this was all too much too fast.

"Can you take off your robe?" She had a fresh new bandage in her hand.

He smiled to himself, he had never been happier to be stabbed. Hae Su didn't see his self-satisfied smile because she was already peeling back the old dressing. She sighed with relief, the herb poultice she made worked extremely well. The entire thing was already covered in pink new skin.

"I was afraid this cut would open again. That's why I asked you to put me down."

As she dressed him again, her fingertips brushed against his nipple. She froze and didn't dare to look at him. She only noted his chest, rising and falling. She was fascinated by the movement. How deep he breathed, how she could follow the difference in his skin around his collar bone. Her eyes followed the trajectory of his breath, up to his neck where the corded tension seemed straining him. She finally met his eyes, his expression was wolfish, starved; he looked at her like prey. But she wasn't scared.

Hae Su's finger tips grazed against his nipple. She rolled the tip between her fingers and Wang So groaned, loud enough to startled the both of them. In that tiny country cabin, all the air rushed out of the room. The night air was so still that she only heard the sound of insects and the ragged breathing in her own chest. So grabbed her wrist and croaked out.

"Su-ah, do not do this to me, if you cannot see this to the end."

TO BE CONTINUED...(yes I know I'm horrible, please let me know in the reviews and comments :P)


	7. Chapter 7 - Union

_Hae Su's finger tips grazed against his nipple. She rolled the tip between her fingers and Wang So groaned, loud enough to startled the both of them. In that tiny country cabin, all the air rushed out of the room. The night air was so still that she only heard the sound of insects and the ragged breathing in her own chest. So grabbed her wrist and croaked out._

" _Su-ah, do not do this to me, if you cannot see this to the end."_

She felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the abyss. Could she take the dive? Her heart, pounding like a hammer on an anvil in her chest.

Searching her eyes for an answer, Wang So noticed how her lips were parted, her eyes glassy. She looked like she was under a spell. Was it really him that affected her this much? He wanted to try his luck, again. He had tried so many times before. Grabbing her by the waist, he drew her close. Hae Su's breath hitched. He was unaware that Su felt so attracted to him.

He reached out with his hand and caressed against her shoulder, slowly sliding up to her neck; his thumb tracing around the lines of her face. His entire body was taut, like a spring about to pop. The slight pressure of Hae Su's hands made him even more excited as they smoothed themselves against his chest, her palm skimming all over him. Her eyes were steady and her voice was husky.

She decided to take the plunge.

"Your Highness, I don't think I ever want to be apart from you again."

Wang So felt the bottom drop out of his chest. Hae Su had arrived. They were finally on the same page. He was her friend first, then her protector second, and now she accepted him as her lover. He felt light headed. He was fine with waiting for her, dreaming of her, thinking of her. But this was the real. Hae Su had finally come to him.

He craved her; she was the part of him that no one else knew, the very part that was stashed away and rejected by his mother, his father, and even himself. Those rare bits were only for her. No one else had seen him. No one wanted to see him. From the moment he pulled her onto his horse, Hae Su was on his mind, whether he was in denial of it or not. He held her face, marveling at the pouty mouth, the milky skin, but it was her eyes that always made him feel like a man. They were soft and she blinked back the wetness that had filled the corners.

"Hae Su. Say it again. I want to hear you say it again." He was still in disbelief.

"I want you so much, Wang So."

He sighed like a man close to death and lowered his mouth to Hae Su's waiting lips. The softness of her open mouth welcoming him, yielding to the pressure of his passion; he didn't know it could be like this.

Pulling back for a second, he searched her face, remembering the awful moment where he forced himself on her. He looked for forgiveness but all he saw was Su's half parted lips, lustfully swollen and her eyes half-lidded. This was a Su he had never seen before, not in real life. He had imagined this how she would look, a half smile at her lips. Her pink tongue darted out and licked her lower lip. He couldn't look away, she was more erotic than a thousand books, than any gisaeng he had ever seen. Her face was as beautiful as the moon. He felt her small hands tugging at the back of his neck, Hae Su wanted more.

More than the kingdom, and more than his mother's love, Wang So wanted her for years. But today, Su returned his invitation. He knew that she would be worth the wait.

"Sweet, so sweet." He murmured as Hae Su whimpered into his mouth. "You have bewitched me, Su-ah. I can think of no one else."

The soft noises of pleasure Hae Su made went straight to his groin. He let his tongue fall into her mouth, where it tangled with Su's. Digging into her hair, his fingers quickly undid her braids so that her silky curtain of black hair fell around her shoulders. Her sweet little tongue darting into his mouth. They tasted each other, slowly, luxuriously. Wang So never wanted to breath again without the taste of Hae Su on his mouth. In his wildest dreams, he never knew it would be like flying, with her hot mouth on his, her scent in his nose, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she deepened their kiss. She was an active kisser. Enjoying him, making noises of pleasure in the back of her throat. He had his hand on the back of her head, but he didn't control them. Hae Su was kissing him like she didn't need air. Wang So felt the blood rushing to his cock, and he felt himself grinding his hardness into her hips.

Hae Su lips were swollen and her breath hitched at a faster speed than ever. She felt so heady. The intensity of their physical chemistry had finally come to a head. The few times that they kissed only hinted at this combustion. Hae Su took a deep ragged breath.

She moaned, relishing the taste of him. Wang So tasted metallic like sweat, and earthy like leather, an exciting and male mixture that tasted as good as wine. His tongue was heavy in Hae Su's mouth, and her tongue darted around the slippery organ, diving and playing with the taste of each other. She let out a little whine when Wang So's hand gripped her jeobori and ripped it from her shoulders. He was chafing to touch her. Once he had a square inch of her, he wanted the rest. All of it, for himself. He kissed along her shoulders, his hands spreading everywhere, tracing the lines of her arms. Kissing along her collarbone, his only obstacle was a band of fabric. She was only in her sokchima, a band of fabric still wrapped high around her chest. Digging his fingers under the fabric, Wang So rolled the tight fabric over her chest so that her breasts were exposed. Hae Su blushed immediately.

"Can I?" His thumbs rubbed against her nipples and she felt the sensation straight in the throbbing of her clit. Wang So found the ribbon that tied sokchima together and he yanked it hard. The fabric fell from her body and Hae Su was left standing naked in front of him. In the dim light, her body was outlined in a fine gold. She had a delicate build, creamy shoulders and a narrow rib cage, making her seem much smaller than she was. His eyes raked over her body and he noticed that her nipples were already pebbled and hard.

He immediately knelt to the ground, a worshipper at her temple. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Wang So kissed her stomach, while he pawed a handful of her ass. As his fingers splayed across her bottom, finding their way between her cheeks. His long middle fingers found her wet cunt and began to stroke the lips of her pussy from behind. He looked up at her, noting how her rapidly her breathing had become. Her deep shuddering breaths made her breast bounce hypnotically.

"So-ah! You are making me crazy." She panted as his hands pushed her legs further apart. She could barely stand.

Hae Su dug her hands into his hair. They were both on fire. His mouth made a hot trail of kisses from her stomach up to her sternum. When he finally stood up again, Wang So looked like a man in the desert, seeing an oasis for the first time. She knew almost all of his expressions. Now, he leaned over her, like he was holding a tight reign on the animal inside him. She noted how his shoulders rippled with tension. Hae Su was mesmerized. Maybe more excited than scared. She traced one scar after another. His body was riddled with forgotten wounds, each one a different way he had survived.

"This one? How did you get this? "

Wang So froze. His scars were always a sore point for him. They represented every single awful even in his life. He tried to forget them. Even in the bath, he rarely looked at his body. But now that he looked down and saw Hae Su kiss every single scar like it was precious to her, he had a change of heart.

Her light finger tips dragged across his abdomen. Glancing up, she noticed how Wang So was absolutely still, like his focus was only on the points where she was touching him. He responded by pushing himself into her. She nuzzled into his neck, using her tongue to taste the salty hollow in his collar bone. His hands drifted across her bare back and he let himself feel the velvet sensation of her tongue on his skin.

So's hands circle her waist, marveling at how small she was. Her breathing grew ragged as his circle of his hands slowly ascended each delicate rib until he arrived at the swell at the bottom of her breasts. His thumbs followed the curves and used his forefinger and thumb to pinch her nipples. Lowering his head down to her bosom, Wang So took the right nipple into his mouth and sucked the sensitive tip against his teeth. Her legs immediately buckled.

"Ah!" Hae Su cried, the electric shock of his mouth now firmly planted on her breasts. His tongue lapped her rosy peaks, hard and warm. She tasted salty and he began to smell her womanly musk. Rolling the tip with his tongue, he used his teeth to scrape the nipple. She hissed with excitement. Hae Su was panting and she felt the a trickle of moisture between her legs, pooling.

Wang So had never been so hard before. He felt his cock straining against the confines of his pants. In one fluid motion, Wang So hitched her hips onto his so that she wrapped her legs around him and lowered them to the nearby futon. He sat back in front of her and opened her thighs. Hae Su trembled. She licked her lips, suddenly aware of how dry her mouth had become.

He held her legs open and he stared at her sex, without a thought to propriety. She was his woman and he wanted to see every single square inch of her.

"Su-ah, don't you dare close your legs." He held firm as she tried to hide. "You're beautiful down here.

He tangled his fingers in her soft dark bush and brushed his thumb lightly around the outside of her beautiful cunt. He enjoyed seeing Hae Su blush violently. But he meant every word. Her pussy was lovely, a dark pink rose with many petals unfolding at her center.

So took her naked form in: her hair in a wide spray across the futon, her small rib cage dipped into her sharp waist, her elegant breasts with her upturned nipples, her curvy hips leading down to her lovely legs. She was spread eagle for him.

"Do you-" Hae Su asked, "you like my body? My leg-" She was nervous. Wang So grinned and nodded.

"Su-ah." He crawled between her legs and kissed each mound of her breasts. "I've been dreaming about this for years. I've imagined how you looked, how I would touch you, stroke you everywhere. How wet you would be. How wet I'm going to make you. I'm going to do it all night, Su-ah. Prepare yourself."

"You are?" Her question died in her throat.

He slide his hand down to her surprisingly curvy hips and his hands went behind her to knead into her ass. He gently bent her legs back. Hae Su whimpered. She had never been this exposed before. Wang So seemed hell bent on seeing every single thing she had ever tried to hide from a man. Her prince didn't care. He wanted to touch her, taste her, he was going to be everywhere.

Using the pad of his fingers, he dipped inside Hae Su, testing her softness, delighting in the wetness that met his hands. He watched her teacup breasts heave up and down the faster he stroke against her folds.

When he parted her sex and lowered his mouth onto her, she screamed one long piercing cry. He tapped her clitoris lightly and Hae Su was gone. Coaxing her clitoris out in a matter of seconds, the sensation of his finger rotating her little sex organ was too much. His warm tongue licked up and down her slit and Hae Su felt her blood rush everywhere. Her face was on fire, she felt a surge of pleasure at the place where his mouth was latched onto her. Her hands gripped into Wang So's hair like a death grip as she moaned his name.

"So-ah! So-ah! Oh God!"

Flicking his tongue against her swollen bud of nerves, Wang So smiled; she was so wet. He could be between her legs for weeks and never come up for air. Her slick folds tasted like rain, she was wet like the sea. Her folds spread open like petals of a flower, for him. He was eager to bury himself into the center of that flower. Her scent, the intoxicating smell of her sex, only made him harder. He groaned as he felt his cock pulsing with unreleased sperm. Barely holding on, he tried to think of things that weren't Hae Su's flowering bud under his mouth. Her hips tilted up on their own accord and Hae Su weakly reach out to hold Wang Su's head against her pussy. Wang So took a break from eating her as thoroughly as dessert to glance at her face.

"Aish, Su-ah. How can you be this wet."

He playfully admonished her. Her only response was to clamp her legs around his hand. He smiled wickedly at her and sat up to observe her. His other hand dipped into his pants and he gripped himself. He jerked his penis a few times, but his attention remained on Hae Su. His middle finger stretched deep inside her and found the spongy soft spot at the top of her innermost chamber. He rubbed it lightly and Hae Su's sodden pussy suddenly contracted around his hand. With a suddenly yelp, she sat up and grabbed his his shoulder as she spasmed around his hand. He held her gaze as she came, her eyes huge and her mouth open in an "o". When she finally squeeze her eyes shut in the final throes of her orgasm, he released his hand from deep inside Hae Su and let her collapse against his chest.

"Su-ah? Hae Su-ah? Are you okay?"

"I ca-came. I came so hard." She was breathless, a mess, trembling with the last few rolling sensations of her orgasm. He laughed to himself lightly, but preened with pride that he had left her in such a state. Hae Su saw his wide grin and she started laughing too.

"If I had known you could do that, your Highness, I would have been your girlfriend a long time ago."

"What is a girl, friend? You are my person, not my female friend."

She had a tiny smile on her face, her eyes were bright and she had a fine sheen of sweat all over her body. Bits damp hair clung to her body, black hair like rivulets of water were plastered against her breasts, across her neck. Wang So mouth was as dry as the desert-she looked like water goddess, freshly emerged from spring. He was paralyzed by her gaze. Her eyes were clear and steady as she got as close as humanly possible. She licked her lips and settled in his lap, her wet cunt directly above his painfully hard cock. She wrapped her legs around him as she sat on him. Wang so felt the thin layer of fabric between her hot pussy and his pulsing cock, but the fabric dampened and began to tug at his skin. He held her waist as she moved slowly against him and locked into his gaze.

No one else existed in the world but Hae Su at this moment. Her eyes were infinite, dark, and encompassing. He saw himself, his future, his children, in her eyes. His hands went to the back of her head and he pulled her into another kiss. They were flush together, mouth to mouth, breast to chest, his hands traveled up and down her back, feeling every vertebrae and finely moulded shoulder blade. He wanted to memorize her body with his hands. Suddenly she gasped and threw back her head as he lowered his mouth down to her breasts to suck at the tops of her breasts again. They were in the plainest room he had ever seen in his life, but no palace in Goryeo could compare to where he was. Hae Su was naked, gloriously flushed from her orgasm. He could smell sex in the air, it smelled like sweat and fluids, salty and warm.

"You are my person." Hae Su kissed him lightly on the nose, as warm as a summer's day. He froze, his hand around her waist and he let the feeling of Hae Su loving him wash over. His stomach tightened unbearably as she continued kissing over his face. There was such a sweetness between them. She brushed her lips on every single line of the scar on his face. Her arms wrapped around the back of his neck as she kept up her rotating hips. Her pink mouth was open as her little teeth lightly bit his lower lip. He took a sharp intake of breath. Wang So felt a hundred emotions at once. He wanted to pound himself relentlessly into her, to claim her, so that she would never be anyone else's. But he also wanted to be as tender to her as she was. Even now, she wasn't scared of him. She didn't know how much animal he felt when she treated him like this. Her small pink tongue escaped her mouth and licked the outside of his earlobes, teasing him, with her teeth she worried the sensitive lob of flesh. He felt the stir of his baser instincts. She whispered into his ear.

"Do you want me?"

"Su-ah, do not play if you're not ready." His voice was strained and desperate. She felt him squirm underneath her. He drew her closer and closer to his lap where his cock was waiting.

"My prince. Please."

Wang So lifted her up and place her back on the futon and quickly shed the fabric constricting him. He stood in front of her. Her eyes widen a little, he was huge. She realized what Wang So meant by prepare yourself. He was preparing her for his entrance.

To his surprise, Hae Su acted first, she grasped his penis firmly in her hands.

"Ah! What are you doing?"

She looked up at him and wordlessly used the tip of her tongue to lick the head of his erection. The glossy head dripped slightly with cum, she lightly cupped his balls and used her hands to stroke him up and down.

"Su-ah, stop. You cannot do this."

She smiled like a cat and placed a soft kiss against the shaft, sending him almost over the edge. She could feel the the jism rushing in the veins of his penis. He made a strangled sound in his chest.

"No. I don't want that." Wang So firmly pushed her back onto the futon and crawled over to her to cover her body with his, settling himself between her legs. Hae Su sighed with satisfaction when she felt the weight of his body against hers. She missed the weight of a man. Her man.

His hands smoothed down the right thigh, skimming over her soft skin. Bending her right knee back, Wang So looked worried for a second.

"Is this okay? What about your legs?"

Hae Su nodded. He held himself above her, only a few inches away from sealing the distance, he leaned down and devoured her mouth, plunging his tongue into her. She felt him resting near her wet opening, and inched a little further down to invite him in.

"Su-ah." He stopped himself and traced the lines of her face with his finger tips.

"I want you, inside me."

With that, Wang So's eyes went dark with passion. He held her legs open in a wide butterfly and pushed himself into her with one long silky stroke until there was no daylight between them. Hae Su's eyes widened. He was so big. She felt her insides stretch as he filled her to the hilt. There was a dull kind of pain inside her. Hae Su gasped. Oh god, she was a virgin. She didn't even remember that this body was a virgin.

"Su-ah?" He saw the wince of pain on her face and stopped his thrusting to pulled out.

He looked at the bed and saw a few drops of blood.

"Hae Su-ah, this is your first time? I am your first lover?"

Wang So was grinning and Hae Su grimaced. In this era, men took too much pleasure devirginizing people. His expression of awe and glee did make her chuckle.

"Yes. It's my first time. But I didn't tell you to stop."

Wang So was shocked. He had been told all his life that virgins felt pain. He wasn't one because princes were always given prostitutes very early on to learn about the female body. He had a one kindly courtesan who taught him more about female pleasure than his own. He was grateful to his teacher now.

He kissed her again, fondling her breasts and preparing her. He lapped at her neck, nipping on the sensitive skin and traveling south. His hands were everywhere, squeezing her breasts, pinching her sensitive nipples, cupping her ass. Where his teeth scraped against her breasts, a bloom of pink made her look even more vulnerable. He marked her everywhere. Wang So only grew harder with the knowledge that he was her first.

He rose up, still kneeling and parted her legs again, he placed her legs on either side of his chest so that he was aligned perfectly with her pussy. Hae Su got onto the back of her elbows, her lips were slightly parted and she was apprehensive that she could take him. He was large and the first time was painful, even after her orgasm. She backed away, nervous. This time, Wang So came after her, like the predator he was. He growled when she tried to back away.

"No. You are mine."

His thumb went to her clit and rubbed the tender bud until he heard the her sticky wetness in the still of the night. She had tears in her eyes as she came again. He knew that in the midst of her orgasm, he would not hurt her. Without breaking eye contact, he pushed himself into her again, this time he held her hips against his and thrusted himself, hard; he slid home. Hae Su started screaming.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Your highness. Please. My prince. Oh god. Yes!"

Everytime he thrusted, she cried with relief. Her prince was everywhere, he was in mouth, in her pussy, every single part of him had left her scorched. She was filled with him and she ached when it was gone. Hae Su never stopped looking at him as he thrusted inside her. He possessed her thoroughly. Her face went from amazement to pleasure, cycling through the the full gamut of emotions; So eyes were locked onto her face, he couldn't stop taking pleasure watching her.

She looked at where they were joined, and she was fascinated by the sight of his girth, stretching her, the smoothness of their union, even as the he drilled into her with passion. She looked down at her body, at how her breasts bounced with each thrust. Her elbows buckled and she fell back onto the futon. Wang So followed her and pressed her knees to her shoulders so that she was pretzeled in half, she was completely open to his thrusts. This time, Hae Su gripped her hands on his shoulders, clinging on for dear life. His head was buried on her shoulder and he bit the meat between her neck and shoulder. The sharp contrast of pain with the slippery wet pleasure of her groin made her cry out again.

With her ankles around his shoulders, Hae Su felt him pounding inside her, deeper than ever. He looked at her face, her eyes were squeezed shut, like she was riding the feeling of them together.

"Su-ah, open your eyes. I want you too look at me." He growled.

Her eyes slowly opened. So had stopped pumping himself into her for the time being. He caressed her cheek with the back of his hands.

"Look at me while I'm inside you." He demanded.

She nodded weakly and Wang So slammed himself into her again. He let her legs slide from his shoulders so that her knees were still open by his side. His rhythm grew faster and faster. Her thighs quivered as she tried to wrap her legs around him. Hae Su moaned, low in her chest.

"Please Wang So, be sweet to me. Be sweet."

She gasped out as he held both of her hands, her ankles locked around his ass, holding him close as he fucked her deep and slow. They never broke eye contact. The tension begin building in her body, she was wetter than ever and his cock was buried deep as her muscles relaxed.

She hadn't been fucked like this in years. Her hands wandered down to her clitoris as Wang So watched. He kissed her, deep, until her lungs burned with the lack of oxygen. He was everywhere around her, inside her body and soul, the feeling of being filled up by her lover, again and again was incredible. Hae Su broke off the kiss for air, and pulled him closer. She placed her hands on either side of his face. She watched his face, closely, his eyes were dark, pupils huge. She leaned up and nipped him her mouth. It was too much sensations, so Wang So grabbed her wrists and held them above her head. With his other hand, he held her ass in place so that she couldn't escape his deep thrusts. She gave in to what he wanted, it was pure freedom to be pinned and fucked.

"So hot. Tight. Sweet. Wet. So wet for me." Wang So was incoherent. He had never imagined how this would feel. To be completely given to Hae Su. He might be the one penetrating, but she completely encompassed him.

Hae Su felt the rising pressure of her orgasm build, her back arched as her walls started squeezing him in the rhythm of her orgasm. Wang So couldn't hold out for much longer and he felt himself at the razor's edge. He wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her off the bed, and slammed her onto his cock for a few more thrusts, so that he could enjoy the view of her breasts bouncing for him. He thrusted a few more times and kissed her passionately as he spent himself in her.

When he finally rolled off of her, they laid side by side, his hands lingering on the the graceful lines of her body. He couldn't stop touching her, he never wanted to stop. Leaning over, he started kissing her shoulders again, laying a trail of soft kisses up to the pulse point in her neck.

"Was I okay?" She smiled, uncertain. She had not made love to a man in many years and now that she was naked and vulnerable in front of Wang So, she wanted the safety of reassurance.

"I've dreaming about you." Wang So traced the lines of her face. "I've wanted you since that birthday party for Eun. Even when I was away in Later Jin, I dreamed about you every night."

Hae Su blushed and ducked her head into the crook of his neck. He lifted her chin and focused on her lips, still swollen from their lovemaking.

"I can never let you go." Wang So intoned seriously. He kissed her again, wrapping himself around her. She wasn't sure if he was ready again, but she didn't think about it; all Hae Su wanted to do was enjoy the afterglow of their union.

For the first time in years, Hae Su felt herself drift off into a dreamless sleep, Wang So's head pressed against her heart as they both slept. In the early morning, she heard the birds outside the hanok first. She saw the orange-pink light behind her eyes; Hae Su blinked in the beam of sunshine directly in her face. She felt a little soreness in her groin and she was completely sticky all over. Her prince was completely wrapped around her, she slept on his arm, and his other arm protectively covering her stomach, his head buried in her hair. She had confessed to Wang So last night. She sighed with relief. In some ways, she had been resisting an oncoming tide. She swam as hard as she could have, against the onslaught of Wang So's ardor. She worried about so many things: that she could hurt him, that he could devastate her, that she was unfair to move from one brother to another. In the end, it didn't matter. Even if Wang So would leave her ruined, a shell of herself, she would still burn for him.

She had finally been caught. And in way, this was a brand new start, she had tried to deny her feelings for him as long as possible. Ultimately, over the last two days, when she thought she would lose the fourth prince, she couldn't deny her truth anymore. She loved him. She loved him in a way wouldn't let her sit on the sidelines to watch him from afar.

Wang So felt Hae Su stirring beside him. He had been awake for a few minutes, recalling everything that happened the night before. They were lovers now. As she stirred, Wang So held her even tighter until he heard a peal of laughter.

"I have to get up."

"No. No one has to get up." Wang So felt her squirm until she faced him. He smiled at her, loosening his grip on her. When Hae Su attempted to get out of bed, Wang So threw himself on top of her, pinning her arms over her head.

"This is our first morning." He grinned at her.

"What is that?" She felt him resting against her thighs.

"It's the morning." He wagged his eyebrows at her, which earned him a peal of laughter.

"You didn't get enough?"

"Never." He growled at her. His hands slide down to her crotch, sliding his fingers into her slit, working her with his hands. Her body was so responsive to him. He let his fingers work the magic on her until she gasped, squeezing her eyes shut. Taking advantage of the moment, her prince spread open her thighs and in one stroke, seat himself deep inside Hae Su. She cried out, a strangled moan.

"Oh. My prince." She was basically a puddle now. His hands pushed her knees up, holding them apart as he pumped himself into her. What a morning it was, the golden ray of light shining on both of them. She could see the dust floating in between rays of sunshine. Her head bounced along with Wang So's thrusts; she lifted herself to look at where they were joined, but before she could float away on another wave of her orgasm, she heard the loud clanging of metal and pounding of horse hooves.

Wang So immediately stopped. He went from lover to soldier in a matter of seconds. Releasing her, he got up and grabbed the sword that was next to the door. He backed up against the door to of their hanok and drew his sword and waited. He placed a finger to his lips and looked at his thoroughly ravished Hae Su, clutching the blankets to her chest. Tilting his head, he gestured to her pile of clothes and she started getting dressed nervously.

They both heard the sound of armored soldiers outside their door. Hae Su shook with nerves. Her prince was still standing, naked by the door, holding a sword in his hand.

An ominous thud shook the door.

"Fourth Prince Wang So. The crown prince is here."

TO BE CONTINUED...!(Let me know in the comments how you feel! Even if it's just exclamation points, that's fine too).


	8. Chapter 8 - Hubaekje

**CHAPTER 8 - HUBAEKJE**

An ominous thud shook the door.

"Long live King Taejo, first of Goryeo. Fourth Prince Wang So, Crown Prince Mu greets you as part of the Hubaekje envoy."

He lowered his sword and ducked under the window, where he saw the Crown Prince's sigil flying in the distance. His shoulders sagged with relief, anyone who knew about the hanok knew that it was maintained as a kind of underground network for their own purposes. He didn't think that any one else would know about it except for people in Prince Wang Mu's inner circle. Even Yo and Queen Yo didn't know about this hideout.

He glanced at Hae Su, who was at least partially dressed in her undergarments. He couldn't let anyone inside the hanok. He regretted that their first night was only one night. They were always running so low on time. It was between them what had transpired last night and he didn't regret a single moment. Hae Su tossed him his robes and he put on the garment quickly.

"This is the Fourth Prince. I need these three items. A change of clothing for my lady, Hae Su. My envoy uniform. Sword and armor."

"Yes, your majesty. We have everything prepared." The soldier clattered away and came back within a few minutes, setting the bundle on the front door.

"Hae Su." He quickly knelt in front of her. Her eyes were wide and inquiring, and after last night, Hae Su couldn't help feel but that he owned a part of her.

"I will do whatever you need." Her voice was husky, raspy from last night's vocal exercises.

"Follow my lead, my love." He wished that their world would not have to change so much in a few brief hours. He longed to lay her back in their nest, he would make love to her again and again, until they were both completely exhausted. Last night was everything Wang So had dreamed and now, Hae Su was more important to him than ever. He had to protect his love, his woman now.

Wang So gestured for Hae Su to be out of eyesight as he stepped outside. She tucked herself into a hidden corner and waited until the door opened again. Through the aperture, Hae Su saw Wang So make a formal bow to the outside world as he picked up the bundle and tossed it behind the door. She frantically unpacked the contents, finding a sky blue hanbok and several hair ornaments and hair styling tools. Essentially everything that noble women wear to indicate status. She wondered how this was all ready. Wang So must have sent word ahead to Mu that he was coming and had Hae Su in tow. The previous change of clothing when they travelled as merchants must have been Wang So improvising when she protested that she would not go with him if they were dressed like a misuri and prince. He was about two steps ahead of her. Hae Su was relieved, Wang So was so well planned. Even if she had not healed him from his wounds, he would have had additional help from Mu's men. They would safe no matter what, Wang So had seen to that possibility.

"Ottoke." Hae Su muttered to herself as she remember how complicated putting on the entire outfit was when she was just Myung Hee's cousin at Wook's house. The morning was taken up easily by at least four other maids while they assembled Hae Su's hanbok and now she would have to do it all by herself.

One jeobori at a time. That's how she would do it. Hae Su laid out the pieces side by side to remember how everything layered on top of each other. Wearing a formal hanbok was like wearing a fabric puzzle. She glanced through the window at her prince who was already calmly talking to a soldier. It would not do for her to look anything less than a respectable noble woman if she had to travel with the fourth prince.

Outside the hanok, Wang So, in his civilian garb, greeted Prince Mu's small legion. The fourth prince lifted his chest when he saw the proud sigil of his brother, waving in the bright dome of the sky. Wang Mu dismounted his horse and walked towards the fourth prince.

"This is the not the best of circumstances to meet."

Wang So bowed. "No. I wished I come bearing better tidings. Father is ill. Most likely on his deathbed."

Mu flexed his gauntlet. He was ready for the news. His father had been in decline since the death of Court Lady Oh Soo-yeon. Mu kept his face stony, it would not do for his soldiers to see how affecting the news was. Mu swallowed hard. Of all of Taejo's sons, he was the closest to his father because they were more than father and son, they were comrades in the long battle to conquer Hubakeje. Mu took a step forward and stared clear-eyed at Wang So. This was his younger brother, who was never raised by King Taejo. He wondered how much he could trust Wang So. So was loyal supporter, but in recent times, Mu had found himself doubting every one of his own moves. Now that he was closer to the throne than ever, something he never wanted, he knew that every one of his relationships would change.

Mu studied So. So had his mother's face, whether it was covered up or not. So had the backing of two powerful clans, the Kangs of Shinju, his adoptive clan, and the Chungs, though he knew that Wang So did not want much to do with the Queen's family. Now that he and King Taejo had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, unifying all three kingdoms of Goryeo, the matter of governing this three headed dragon was going to require the loyalty of everyone who followed him.

King Taejo was on his deathbed. Mu felt hollow. He should be by his father's side. But the Wangs were not a normal family. Royal families had to act in self-preservation. Bound by duty, Mu knew he had to carry through his mission, which was to secure the political alliances of the northern families, rather than returning home to his beloved father.

"Is that why you came?"

"No. I came to assist you with raising an alliance with the recently fallen kingdom Hubaekje."

"Very well. I will let you change into your military uniform before we enter the Hubaekje capital. The people here are not in great spirits. Their warring clans with our royal decree have decimated a huge number of young men. I've been dealing with a number of illegal raids in the small towns dealing with drought."

"I will do whatever you need, Crown Prince."

"Are you sure you would not rather go back to the palace now that I have the news of the King's death?"

Wang So bowed deeply again.

"Thank you, brother. For receiving me."

He had never seen Wang So like this before. This hiding in a hanok, the the secrecy. It was very unlike his little brother. It had to be Hae Su. Mu favored Hae Su too, even before she was sent away as a misuri, she was an unusual girl who didn't seem to heed much by palace life. It completely made sense that Wang So fell for Hae Su, she seemed to be the first one to show him affection and the first to seek him out regardless of status.

Wang Mu remembered how terrible life was for his little brother. When he looked at Wang So now, without a mask to cover his scar, he stood as proud as a tall reed. There was something different about the fourth prince today. Mu still remember when Hae Su charged into his room when his skin condition was worsening and helped him through the episode. Instead of bowing and scraping to the formalities like the other court ladies, Hae Su cut through everything when she saw suffering. There was no doubt, Hae Su was very special. He wondered if Wang So was taking advantage of the King's deteriorating health to claim Hae Su for himself. It was a smart idea, rational and pragmatic, as was Wang So's ways.

Wang So opened the door again and he was greeted with Hae Su. He sucked in a sharp breath. Now that he had seen her naked, he wouldn't have it any other way, but she looked like a goddess in her formal hanbok, her hair twisted up into neat coils. She looked every inch the noblewoman who would receive the heart of a prince. Not that he cared about status when it came to Hae Su, she came before everyone in the world in his mind.

"Prince Mu will receive us in Hubaekje. There's no palanquin for women, so you will have to ride with me. It won't be appropriate, but I don't think we have any other options."

Wang So immediately changed, inside the hanok, Putting on his military uniform as well as hard armor. Hae Su helped him, lacing the pieces together. He had a crooked smile for her.

"How did you get off of me the first time?"

"I was very determined."

"To see my body?"

"No, to make sure you would stay alive, my prince." She laced the final pieces in places and gave him a hearty pat on the back. "Don't disappoint me, Gwangjangnim."

He looked at her and nodded towards the door.

"Ready?"

Hae Su nodded. Taking a deep breath.

Prince Mu greeted the both of them. Hae Su bowed deeply. She was relieved to see the Crown Prince alive. She considered him her friend first and foremost. Mu realized that in front of the soldiers, he needed to present the two of them, Hae Su and the fourth prince, with some kind of status. They needed the protection of his position.

"Lady Hae Su."

"Crown Prince Mu."

"You are accompanying the fourth Prince on his envoy?"

"Yeh." Hae Su bowed smoothly into the lie. Wang So stood behind her.

"Since King Taejo gave her to me before I was sent away to Khitan, I expect her to serve her duties to me as part of our envoy to Hubaekje."

An man in a red hat bowed deeply to the fourth prince. His face was bland, supplicating.

"Ah, Prince Wang So, we will watch after her while you and the Crown Prince enter Hubaekje."

Hae Su's eyes darted to Wang So, she felt her hands go clammy. She couldn't be separated from her prince. With her lack of status and family, being physically isolated would place her in the most vulnerable position. She did not know this man who was speaking. Wang So's face darkened. Hae Su felt a flutter, she hoped for a peaceful journey, but it appeared that smooth sailing was not ahead. How she longed for the modern world when she could preserve her individuality and freedom without sacrificing safety.

Mu frowned at the intrusion. So felt his hand swing automatically to his sword, but then thought better of it. The outcomes of this first step towards entering Hubaekje would be important in how he could present himself and Hae Su.

"That won't be necessary. Whom am I addressing?" Wang So kept his voice smooth, but his eyes flickered with annoyance at the mention of removing Hae Su from his side.

"Respectfully, Fourth Prince Wang So. I am Hyoso, ambassador of Hubaekje, servant of the late Gyeon Hwon. Ah, as to the matter of the lady, I am merely thinking of her well-being. A single noble woman should not travel with an army. There are many lewd men and it would be inappropriate for her to be around such, uncouth dialogue. I will send for a woman's convoy to escort her into the city where she can meet you at the capital. I'm sure you agree."

"Thank you Ambassador Hyoso. I don't see the need."

"Prince Wang So, she is not related to you by any chance is she?"

"We are engaged."

Hae Su kept her eyes steady, towards the ambassador, keeping the surprise from her face. Wang So's back was as straight as a ramrod.

"My deepest apologies. I am an unworthy servant. I did not understand Lady Hae Su's position. Of course, as your fiancee, she should travel with you and you will ensure her safety and well being."

Prince Mu grimaced, so this was Wang So's plan. To retract Hae Su from the reaches of power and to marry her as soon as he could. Mu felt worried. Like his own princess, Hae Su was an orphan who had no clan backing. When she stopped her marriage to King Taejo, she effectively cut off all clan support for herself. As he was constantly reminded of his lack support from a powerful clan-Mu could barely raise this small army himself and had to call on the resources of other-he wondered if Wang So about to fall into the same trap by marrying a woman without a clan? Mu kept his doubts to himself and thought about how could gently talk his brother out of marriage with Hae Su. Hae Su would make an excellent palace woman, she could offer comfort to someone who desperately needed it, like Wang So, but a marriage was out of the question.

"Your engagement is a blessing. We will have a feast in honor of the occasion. We will also have to invite the local officials, this will be a good occasion to make them feel included in royal affairs in Songak." Mu saw the advantage that So laid out in this scenario and ran with it. Wang So nodded to his brother approvingly.

So's horse was set in the middle of several phalanx. They intended to march around So as a measure of protection. So set Hae Su lightly on his horse, now outfitted with a two person saddle. He grasped her ankles gently, setting her small feet into the stirrups.

"I'm sorry about the horse, I know your legs are still hurting."

She glanced to her right, at the massive flank of cavalry who rode close. There were men as far as the eyes could see. She wondered what the fallen of Hubaekje would think, seeing all these armed men entering their city. It would feel like an invasion.

"I'm know that was a surprise." Wang So's armored arms circled Hae Su as he settled into the second saddle. He quickly snapped the reins and the entire army moved.

"I guess I always thought you would ask me first before we got engaged." Hae Su murmured back, trying not to move her lips or show too much emotions to the soldier who were only a few meters away.

"I had to think on my feet. That ambassador is assessing how invested the royal family is in Hubaekje before he reports to all the other ministers of the land. If I say that I'm on the run from dangers I don't understand yet, it makes me look weak. However, if I've brought my fiancee on a trip to visit the Crown Prince in the guise of a family matter, then it makes Hubaekjae look important to Goryeo."

"I understand. It's a cover for you and I to be together. I know that you've thought ahead to all of this, but wangjangnim, please do not marry me if you don't want to."

Hae Su felt his armoured chest move back slightly.

"Have I given you any reason to doubt my intentions?"

"No. But I do not want to force you to do anything that you don't want to."

"Su-ah." Wang So felt like she was being unbearable sad. "I don't do anything I don't want. And what I want is you. You are my person."

"You're not just being forced into this circumstance because you're trying to protect me?"

"Of course I'm trying to protect you as well. But I don't see anything wrong getting what I want and protecting you at the same time."

She fell quiet and let herself lean against Wang So's armored chest. Glancing out at the wide vista in front of them, she could feel the eyes of all the soldiers on the two of them. Her heart sank. She wondered if she had inadvertently attracted more attention to their relationship. Before Lady Oh's death, her ambiguous ties to the princes had made her a target for Queen Yoo. Now, she worried that Wang So would find himself in the same position again before his exile, heedlessly throwing himself, his status, his family away just to protect her. Now, every single man in Mu's army knew about the Fourth Prince's weakness. It was her.

So kept his face impassive but inside his chest felt like warm gold. He had declared their relationship in no uncertain terms, officially, and now no one would dare to separate them without the threat of his sword. Mu's face looked perturbed, and So absorbed this. In a way, he was happy that the Hubaekje ambassador had pressed him. Now, there was no doubt to Hae Su's position and there was a solid reason why she was traveling with the envoy. He would shout it from every roof top in Songak. Hae Su had fallen quiet. He heard a slight hitch in her breathing, a tremble at her shoulder, and he frowned.

"Su-ah. What's wrong?"

"How far away are we from the the city?" Her voice was light.

"I think at least half a day?"

"That's good." She turned slightly in her seat. "Wangjangnim, I am comfortable and well. Do not worry."

She rewarded him with a dazzling smile and Wang So felt his chest expand with relief.

"A princess should get whatever she wants." He crooked a smile on the side of his face.

"I'm not a princess yet."

"We can marry as soon as we have an official." He gazed around the group of men. "I think there are at least half a dozen who can marry us tonight."

"I hope you don't think that by asking me in front of all these men, that it makes your proposal real."

"It doesn't?"

"No." She chuckled. "Don't try to get out of a formal proposal by making a pragmatic one in front of the army. I'll wait for a good one."

"Alright. I'll have it, Hae Su."

When Hae Su turned back, facing away from Wang So, her face fell into an agonized mask of pain. Riding was still intensely difficult for her. She tried slow down her breathing, making her stops smooth and even as to not arouse any more of Wang So's suspicion. The pain her leg felt like a red hot iron pressed against the bone. She exhaled slowly, trying to focus on the horizon instead of the pain that was fogging her mind.

Another spasm of pain shot up through her right leg and she cringed, unable to stop her sharp gasp. So immediately heard.

"Hae Su, something is wrong. You're in pain."

"I was just surprised by that rabbit we just trampled. Nothing else."

Wang So frowned.

"Su-ah." He murmured gently, he discreetly gripped her waist. "This is like when I was injured by the assassins, you have to tell me."

"I will. When it's something." She shook it off and stared ahead. "Prince So, please. We have to continue."

So quickly swung off the horse and Hae Su looked after his direction, startled. He disappeared into the masses of horses and men. Everyone turned to her. Su was alone on the horse, bewildered that her prince had disappeared into the crowd.

He returned a few minutes later with several leather straps fashioned together. Hae Su was mystified, what was Wang So up to? He looped several straps of the leather together into the stirrup so that the now, the leather held her firm against the horse, she no longer had to grip as tightly with her thighs, she relax.

"How is that?" He murmured to her, guiding her feet into the new system of stirrups.

"How did you know?"

"Hae Su, you've been limping for weeks in front of me. I should have known that riding was going to be hard for you, my love. Forgive my thoughtlessness." His mouth was set tight and Hae Su felt tears rushing in, so she blinked them back.

"Wangjangnim. I can't thank you enough." Her voice trembled.

He finished his handiwork and gazed up at her, his brows furrowing. "Hae Su. We help each other. There's no thanks needed. I am for you as you are for me."

After a few hours of having her right leg in the sling, Hae Su could lean back comfortably against Wang So. They were making good time to the edge of Hubaekje. Wang So whispered into her ear whenever he knew something about the surrounding land. He knew that she loved hearing about all the different kingdoms. He thought about how good of a ruler Hae Su might be if she were from a more powerful family. She was forever thinking of people other than her, she would be compassionate and brilliant person by his side.

"And what else is Hubaekje known for?"

"They make a kind of rice wine that's highly potent. They said that once a man has drunk a cup of Hubaekje wine, he'll dance on the moon."

"Really? I'd like to try it."

"You like to drink?" He sounded amused. "Shall I get you drunk tonight?"

She scoffed. "I am a very good drinker. Baek-Ah would know."

So chuckled. He did not know that Hae Su enjoyed drinking or he would have definitely tried that in his repertoire much earlier.

"Ah, all this time, you've been drinking with Baek-Ah and ignoring me."

"That's not-not what happened. Just that Baek-Ah and I bonded over Myung Hee's funeral with some alcohol. He was far more heartbroken than I was."

"You cared for her a great deal. I remember the funeral." So's voice was quiet.

"You don't drink, Prince So." Hae Su turned slightly to look at him.

"I don't drink much. I like to have my wits about me."

She grinned at his matter-of-fact answer. So was always serious. Hae Su quirked up her eyebrow, "Ah. Prince No Fun."

"Su-ah." He admonished.

"That's okay. I have plenty of time to change you." Hae Su grinned back.

"You wish to change me?" His tone was serious.

"No. Not a hair. Not a scar." She intoned, her voice low. "I know you are good in your heart and I'm going to hold you to that."

"Su-ah. Everything I will do is to protect us. To protect you. I can't risk you."

"I do not wish you to hurt anyone because you're protecting me." Su's voice was suddenly serious. "Please promise me. You will not fight with any of your brothers. No one will die because of my safety."

Wang So fell silent. He didn't know how to respond to her request.

"Wang Yo is planning a rebellion with my uncle."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He intends to usurp the throne from Mu."

"But, Taejo's decrees. He was going to give them on the night of the banquet. They're the King's decrees. It would be treason for Yo. His entire family could die!"

"He knows that. He intends to go to the palace with our Uncle's army and crush General Park's defenses. Once someone holds the palace, it won't matter which decrees are carried out."

Hae Su turned around, her eyes wide.

"We must go back?"

"Yes. If I am to support Mu's bid for the throne, then we must go back."

Wang So noticed her shoulders drop, like a small bird tucking into the winter winds. He swallowed hard. He should have known that returning to the palace was a frightening prospect to Hae Su. She had suffered so much there. He felt his gut turn into ice at the memory of her, bloodied in the executioner's gown, treading to the gallows. Only a few minutes stood between the love of his life and her disappearance from his world. He held her tighter by the waist.

"Hae Su. We will be safe. Now that you are my woman, we will be safe. You'll see." He whispered fiercely in her ear, trying to convey the reassurance she needed.

"I just wish. This is impossible-." She took a deep breath.

"That you weren't a prince."

"Oh." He felt his heart drop. She was right, it was an impossible wish, that he would be a simple man, with simple position and she his wife who wanted nothing more than to care for their family. He brushed the thought away. There was no room for indulgence in this world. He was a prince and he had to use his position to an advantage instead of uselessly wishing for another life.

Wang So set his jaw. There's nothing to say, he is a prince.

As the sun rose past late afternoon, Hae Su began to the see more and more hanoks with small plots of family land populating the scenery. Hubaekje must be very close. She sighed with relief. Even though the leather sling was a huge comfort while she was riding, she wanted to be off the horse.

"Wansan." Her prince enunciated simply.

They were here. The city was larger than Songak. Hae Su saw that the Mu legion had already thinned out in front, they were going to enter the city first as the representatives of Songak with the army marching behind them.

Wrought with iron and embellished with huge brass knockers, the doors of Wansan were easily taller than ten men. With a great groan, the doors were pushed open. As the first city official walked out of the shadows of the wall, Hae Su's eyes widened when she saw who it was.

Wang Wook.

 _**author note: Ah I can't believe I had more to write for Book I, but I guess I did! Thanks to all the readers who demanded more for book I, I was able to write more story! I can promise more plot twists and some juicy *wags eyebrow* chapters upcoming to. Don't forget about Book II, I'm still waiting on last 8 reviews so I can upload the new chapter!_


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